Stowe - At the Temple of Venus - The Land Dispute - a tale told by Philippa Tipper

At theTemple of Venus

The Land Dispute

One day a man who owned a field left it in the care of another man. He took good care of the land, ploughing, weeding, planting and harvesting it. When the owner came back he said to the man who had been taking care of it, 'Give it back now. The land belongs to me.'

" 'No,' said the other man, 'I won't. The land belongs to me. You are the owner, but I am the one who has taken care of the land all this time. The land is mine.'

They began a fight, until the neighbours brought them to a judge to settle the dispute. The judge happened to be Hodja Nasrudin. Each man said, 'The land is mine! The land belongs to me!'

Hodja walked to the field, lay down in the dirt, and put his ear to the ground. 'What are you doing, Nasrudin?' they asked.

 'I'm listening.' 
'What are you listening to?'
 'The land.'

Both men laughed at him. 'Listening to the land? Listening to the land? What does the land have to say?'

Hodja looked up and said. 'The land says it does not belong to either of you. It belongs to no one. It says you belong to the land.' "

Being statues

The Picnic

About Nasreddin Hodja

Nasreddin Hodja is Turkey's (and perhaps all of Islam's) best-known trickster. His legendary wit and droll trickery were possibly based on the exploits and words of a historical imam. Nasreddin reputedly was born in 1208 in the village of Horto near Sivrihisar. In 1237 he moved to Aksehir, where he died in the Islamic year 683 (1284 or 1285). As many as 350 anecdotes have been attributed to the Hodja, as he most often is called. Hodja is a title meaning teacher or scholar. He frequently is compared with the northern European trickster Till Eulenspiegel.

The many spelling variations for Nasreddin include: Nasreddin, Nasrettin, Nasrudin, Nasr-id-deen, Nasr Eddin, Nasr-eddin, Nasirud-din, Nasr-ud-Din, Nasr-Eddin, and Nasr-Ed-Dine.

The many spelling variations for Hodja include: Hodja, Hodscha, Hoca, Chotza, Cogia, Khodja, and Khoja.

Celebrating Our Senses - Walk 7 - Direction

Our Mindfulness meditation - Direction - was lead by Carolyn Bantin Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one's attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation. It was a dreary day, we were coming to the end of the project, we decided to take things slow.

We retraced part of a walk made with Miles and Dacombe during Light Walks For Dark Days using a Fortune Teller to guide our steps. 

We collected a series of images of interesting doors

see more here

We visited Dulleys Museum,  played the penny arcade machines.

looked at the old school books, remembered favourite toys.

We made plans for the end of project celebration in March 

and made button tree keyrings.

and were able to have our picnic in the Museum.

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.