Celebrating Our Senses - Walk 5 - Touch

The fifth in a series of Mindfulness and 

Wellbeing walks to celebrate our senses. 

We walked from the Green Patch 

along the river path to Warkton.

Inspired by the exquisitely carved feathers 

of the angel which is part of one the 

Montagu Monuments in 

St Edmunds Church, Warkton

artist Carole Miles decided to create a 

temporary installation of printed feathers 

suspended within a copper framework.

A feather seemed a good motif for Touch - 

which could be feather light yet very powerful.

We followed a trail of feathers

and sat inside or

 stood around the outside.during 

our Mindfulness meditation - Touch - 

was written and lead by Carolyn Bantin 

We felt very tranquil as we closed our eyes

and allowed our minds to hold and enjoy

the words, breathing fully and deeply.

feeling relaxed and in touch with ourselves.

We had our lunch in the meeting room 

whilst the installation was dismantled. 

We folded origami fir trees and 

wrote some thoughts about the day. 

We stopped to play Pooh Sticks on the bridge.

We walked back to our start point with 

quicker steps and lighter hearts. 

One walker said to Carole 

"You make the best walks EVER!"

Many thanks to Anne-Marie Sandos who worked on the Montague Monuments Project and is now working in education and outreach for Boughton House for making it possible for us to visit, create, meditate and have our lunch within this peaceful place. Many thanks also to Michael Miles AKA Copper Man for helping with the installation.

You can see the complete photo set here

Walk distance  3 miles.

The series of Mindfulness and Wellbeing "Celebrating Our Senses" walks have been made possible with a Grant awarded from Margaret Giffen Community Fund and Northamptonshire Community Foundation and with support from NStep.

PS - you may catch a glimpse of a familiar red head singing her heart out with the Deep Roots Tall Trees Choir  during Remembrance and Rebirth – Songs for the Montagu Monuments in May 2016 :-)

Celebrating Our Senses - Walk 4 - Look

The fourth in a series of 

Mindfulness and Wellbeing walks. 

Our Mindfulness meditation - Look - 

was lead by Carolyn Bantin 

in Kettering Civic Society Meeting Room 

on Platform One at Kettering Station.

We examined small packs of fossils 

and thought about time and journeys.

We looked above our heads and 

below our feet and collected a series of images 

of things we noticed on our walk
 which can be viewed here 

We collected Ginko leaves as we 

were lucky to find several lovely 

specimens during our walk - the 

Ginko is also known as a living fossil 

and it's other name is the 

maidenhair tree as it's leaves a

re similar to the maidenhair fern. 

In the garden next to the Alfred East Art Gallery

we collected more leaves in gorgeous, flame reds

and we explored St Peter and St Paul's Church

We made our way through the town 

to the Fuller Meeting Rooms and museum 

where we had a private tour of their collections.

 and played the talking Drum

We filled in our walk journals

and had our picnic indoors then made 

a dash back to the station through heavy rain.

You can see the complete photo set here

Walk distance  2 miles.

Many thanks to David, our guide at Fuller Museum and Monica from Kettering Civic Society for the use of their meeting room, both helped make the walk special and different.

The was first in a series of Mindfulness and Wellbeing "Celebrating Our Senses" walks made possible with a Grant awarded from Margaret Giffen Community Fund and Northamptonshire Community Foundation and with support from NStep.

Celebrating Our Senses - Walk 3 - Listen

For our third walk we revisted 

the Kelmarsh Tunnel on 

the Brampton Valley Way

where we were once again joined

 by the wonderful storyteller Allan Davies 

who told tales at various points in the walk. 

Our Mindfulness meditation - Listen - was lead by Carolyn Bantin in the picnic area in the car park before the walk commenced to center our thoughts sharpen our ears and regulate our breathing.

In the clearing of ash trees and picnic tables Allan told us the story of a bucket with a hole and Carole Miles showed the group how to make a wind chime with spoons. 

All the wind chimes were hung together 

and sang out whilst we had our lunch.

Then those who dared walked into the dark of 

the tunnel towards the air vent. 

Standing in a pool of light and 

droplets of water Allan told 

a wintery tale with an 

excellent ending.

We walked in twos and threes, back along the Brampton Valley Way listening to the birds, watching a rainbow and noticing the glorious colours of autumn.

You can see the complete photo set here

Walk distance 3.5 miles.

Part of a series of Mindfulness and Wellbeing "Celebrating Our Senses" walks made possible with a Grant awarded from Margaret Giffen Community Fund and Northamptonshire Community Foundation and with support from NStep.

Thank You For Helping Us Grow Some £10s!

Back To Books is a Not For Profit Community Organisation specialising in arts and wellbeing projects. We raise funds on a project by project basis and have completed many successful creative projects in Northamptonshire. We have been awarded grants for past projects by Awards For All, Northamptonshire Community Foundation and The People's Health Trust. We work with all ages and abilities and hope to build on our creative approaches to walking and wellbeing. We created a public Mosaic Trail for the Brampton Valley Way, artworks and mosaics for The Green Patch Community Allotments and have worked with many groups in rural or deprived areas. We have been delighted by the support we received from friends and well wishers during the Grow Your Tenner campaign in October 2016. We managed to raise £1000 which will be used as matched funding for a new project in 2017! Kettfest at The Green Patch Celebrating Our Senses - Lyvden New Beild Mosaics along the Brampton Valley way Felting The Landscape

Celebrating Our Senses - Walk 2 - Stop

The second in a series of Mindfulness and Wellbeing walks took us to Lyvden New Bield an unfinished Elizabethan summer house in the east of Northamptonshire, England, owned by the National Trust.

Before the walk artist Carole Miles 

designed windsocks printed with 

figures to represent each participant.

In the garden participants drew or stamped

on their windsock to personalise it.

We walked to the ruin built by Sir Thomas Tresham

There was very little wind.

We had to stop, ten move in order to catch the wind,

We walked up the first spiral landmark

Carolyn led a mindfulness meditation- Stop

We closed our eyes and caught our breath.

 

Shared a picnic including jam made from 

the blackberries we foraged during the 

Rushden walk. We made notes 

in our walk notebooks

We walked to the second spiral

Hung up our windsocks

We walked to the orchard, admired 

the apples and damsons.

Shared quiet conversations.

Felt peaceful

You can see the complete photo set here

Walk distance 2 miles.

Many thanks to Sharon Taylor and The National Trust for helping the group to visit and for making our time at the property so special.

Part of a series of Mindfulness and Wellbeing "Celebrating Our Senses" walks made possible with a Grant awarded from Margaret Giffen Community Fund and Northamptonshire Community Foundation and with support from NStep.