The apples are coming!

APPLE DAY

Sunday 7th October, 2012

relax and wait while the wildlife watches you

Dove Valley at sunset

celebrate autumn's richness with orchard investigations, apple recipes and fruit-creature-puppets stories and laughter

The last of our Exploring with Stories public events for now, Apple Day is a celebration that has become well established in the alst few years after an initial launch by Common Ground

This event offers a chance to look at orchards, to think and find out more about your own fruit trees, to taste apples and autumn recipes, to listen to some tree, wood and wildness stories and generally be creative

Where: Dove Valley Centre, Under Whitle, nr Longnor, SK17 0PR

Link: www.dovevalleycentre.co.uk

Time: 11am - 3.30pm

The event is FREE

telling stories at the Dove Valley Centre

Running towards more adventures!

Run Away To Adventure

Sunday 30th September 2012

We have another of our wildly delightful "adventure" events next Sunday

What is happening: making dens deep in the woods! Stranded on a desert island? Lost in the forest? Cast away after storms at sea or on the local duckpond...we'll make the dens we'd like to survive in - woodland shelters, hidden dens, foraging, planning and telling the dreadful tales of how we got stranded here

Where: National Trust, Longshaw Estate nr Hathersage

(meeting: Moorland Discovery Centre, Longshaw Estate, 
Sheffield, Derbyshire, S11 7TZ)

Times: places can be booked on either the morning  or afternoon session

Costs: no cost for activities, car parking charges may apply

What will we do? You'll be working with three of our workshop leaders to:

         tell the story of our adventure: did we run away to live in the woods, were we shipwrecked on a desert island, did pirates abandon us to guard their treasure?

         build our own shelters: using ropes and mats, nets and what we can find in the woods, we'll make our own shelters and weave our first useful tools to help us survive in this new adventure

         record our stories: by the end of our workshop, we'll sit down in our shelters and tell the terrible tales of the adventures that brought us to this place. We might take these tales away with us written on paper, as tiny woven baskets or as postcards….

Places are limited on "Run Away to Adventure" and need to be booked: call 07825 177355 or email stoneandwater@btinternet.com,  to reserve a place and receive further details

Running towards adventures

adventurers gather by the fire

 A week of activity! We had planned a lively week to coincide with National Family Week - but then that was cancelled but our events went ahead anyway!

In the last few days, we've had swarms of people out looking for Faeries, Trolls and Goblins in Padley Gorge near Hathersage. That was such a magical and perilous time that photos will follow later when we have determined that they are safe from spells and that to look at them will not risk enchantment and having all of you turned into frogs (not necessarily a bad thing, I hasten to say, but we have to observe some proprieties)

a fire for burning biscuits

making baskets

Wednesday was flooded. The woods where we hoped to go Into the Woods were waterfalls, and rivulets and our heroic artists dripped within minutes. Visitors had more sense and stayed at home. We surrendered the day to the rain and its thunder

cooperation helps when
building dens

But to-day people gathered to Run Away to Adventure and in Grinlow Woods we heard the tale of the dragon who, after killing the crabs, chased the girls who had been looking in rockpools off the beach  and into the woods where they built a den that was so well-hidden no dragon could see it.

a tiny lamp lights a small corner

Then there were the family who were on a holiday sailing down the Nile when their boat was overturned and abandoned by search parties, they made a camp on the banks of the river. Braving crocodiles and hippos, they caught fish in the river and made friends with local people

moss for pillows

The stories span on, watchtowers on the heights, the nutriritonal value of toasted biscuits, a branch polished smooth and pale that looked suspiciously like a giant's thigh-bone, baskets to collect fruit in, the best ways of cooking rabbits (especially oens made of moss and bark!), wet clay lamps to light the dark, wild nights, the relative merits of logs and bracken as bedding,…….

all modern conveniences,
even a basin for washing....

on the banks of the Nile (use your imagination!)

Books we used

Places we went to for ideas in planning these sessions

Into the Woods:

TH White, The Sword in the Stone

East, Maddern & Marks, The Spirit of the Forest

Julia Donaldson, The Gruffalo

Jane Gifford, The Wisdom of Trees

JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

Dragon Girl tells her tale

Run Away To Adventure

BB, Brendon Chase

JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit

Michael Morpurgo, Kensuke's Kingdom

Ray Mears, Essential Bushcraft

Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins

Swiss Family Robinson

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

watchers on the hilltop

Family events in August

EVENTS FOR AUGUST

a sample folded puppet theatre.....

August has begun with some exciting activities. We were at the National PlayDay celebrations in Leek (well done, Erica and the Staffordshire Moorlands team!). Making little folded puppet theatres and new stories to tell in these, we worked with more than 100 people over the day. Today, (Thursday 2nd) I worked with visitors to SureStart centres in Buxton, using similar activities and rummaging around in flowerbeds to find bits and things to help us tell stories which ended up with sneezing heroes, a flying carpet, a knight looking for flowers and a hero who had a quiet and peaceful time in the woods!

Knights, monsters and encampments hidden in the woods....

Mums and Dads made their own theatres and stories

a fairy and her palace

1. Tuesday  28th August 2012

Away with the Faeries, Goblins and Trolls

Where: Padley Gorge on the National Trust's Longshaw 

Estate near Hathersage

Meet at the Granby Barn Interpretation Centre on the B6521

Times: 11 am - 1pm or 2pm - 4pm

Costs: no cost for activities, car parking charges may apply

No booking is needed: just turn up and join in

What is happening: we'll explore the atmospheric landscapes of Padley gorge, looking for secret places, troll baths and goblin houses. We'll make puppets, build faerie homes and monster lairs and invent stories to tell each other

who knows what we'll find in the woods

2. Wednesday 29th August 2012

Into the woods

Where: Buxton Country Park, Poole's Cavern, Green Lane, Buxton SK17 9DH

Times: 10.30 - 12.30, 1.30 - 3.30

Costs: no cost for activities, car parking charges may apply

What is happening: as explorers, naturalists and storytellers, we'll explore the woods: identifying trees, finding the animals that live there, using art and science and stories to understand the secret lives of trees

3. Friday 31st August 2012

Run Away To Adventure

Where: Buxton Country Park, Poole's Cavern, Green Lane, Buxton, SK17 9DH

Times: morning  and afternoon sessions

Costs: no cost for activities, car parking charges may apply

What is happening: making dens deep in the woods! Stranded on a desert island? Lost in the forest? Cast away…we'll make the dens we'd like to surivive in - woodland shelters, hidden dens, foraging, planning and telling the dreadful tales of how we got stranded here

Places are limited on "Run Away to Adventure" and need to be booked: call 07791 096857 or email stoneandwater@btinternet.com,  to reserve a place and receive further details

Pirates!

Once there was a girl who...

We are in the middle of a number of workshops for small groups, rather than our big public events now. Today, I was in Buxton Library making up stories with visitors. Together we designed our a hero, sent her off through our town and up the hill towards Solomon's Temple. There our ideas diverged and people went off to find clues as to just what might have happened....The notes that follow came from just a few of our new tales
Gordon, Creeping Toad - storyteller for the session

A girl went for a walk on a sunny summer afternoon. She had rolled her trousers up to her knees and was wearing a wide-brimmed sunhat, sandals, and a T-shirt. She had binoculars round her neck, a basket in one hand, a fishing net in the other and a rucsac on her back.

As she walked up the hill to Solomon's Temple……

the woods on Grin Low

Story 1:            she saw a giant standing in the trees in front of her. She was so terrified she couldn't move and the giant reached out a huge hand to grab her. Then Sarah swung her fist and hit the giant in the face so hard his head fell off!  She picked up the head to put in her basket and take it home. But realised that the giant wasn't dead and was very scared because his head and body weren't joined together any more.  Sarah helped the giant put his head back on his shoulders. It was very wobbly so she got lots of sticks and stuck them in round the join so that the giant's head didn't wobble any more. Then she discovered that this was a very important giant because every day he took one of the shining golden yellow flowers that grew on the bushes along the path and threw it high into the sky. The flowers would stick to the sky and shine down on everyone all day, but by the evening the flower would have shrivelled up and night would swallow the world. Sarah became the only person who knows the secret of sunshine and the only friend the Sunshine Giant every had

a flower of the sun

Story 2            she met a witch looking for the last ingredient for the most difficult potion she had ever made. The girl offered to help and learned that the missing ingredient was a lock of hair from an adventurer's head. She offered some of her own hair but wasn't sure if she was adventurous enough. The witch stirred the girl's hair into the potion and they both waited to see what would happen. Nothing changed. The girl took a sip of the potion and at once disappeared from the Grin Low woods. She found herself far from home, in the middle of a jungle and felt the power of the potion inside her and knew that she could wish herself home again any time she wanted. She was an adventurer after all!

Story 3            she slipped in some mud, fell in a stream and rolled all the way down the stream, down a river, out to sea where a boat rescued her. But a storm came and waves as big as mountains threw the boat all over the place and the girl fell out and into the shark-filled sea. At once the sharks started chasing her and the girl swam away. She swam so fast her shoes slipped off (and the sharks munched them up). She swam so fast her hat flew off (and the sharks munched it up). She swam as fast as a dolphin (shark teeth were snapping), as fast as barracuda (shark jaws were open wide) but the sharks got closer and closer with their sharp, snapping teeth. But just as they were going to pounce, a wonderful golden fish slipped through the waves beside the girl and grabbing hold of its fins, she was pulled through the water and away to safety. They left the sharks far behind and beautiful green turtles kept them company until they reached the river. Then the fish swam the girl up the river, up the stream and flicked her back onto the mud where her adventure started. She went home, covered with mud and no-one ever believed her!

Then there were

 the girl who found a mouse's party bits all wrapped up in a leaf

the girl who just went for a lovely walk, finding beautiful flowers on the way

the girl who found a wild horse on the hills

and of course

the boy who eaten by the sharks and came home as a ghost and never had to go to school again

Grin Low woods and Solomon's Temple are great places for adventures!

Thanks to storytellers Andrew, Holly, Angus and Iona

(these aren't our own photos, so apologies to people who've posted these images on the web and thanks for putting these images out there where the rest of us can appreciate them!)

Away with the Faeries!

and we were! on a hot, steamy day in the Pavilion Gardens in Buxton, there were visitors everywhere. Picnics were eaten, streams splashed in. Dogs chased balls and balls chased ducks and ducks chased anyone who might have bread concealed about their persons

you never know just who might be watching

or what something might do with your hat! a troll picnic

and among all this bedlam, who would have thought that there were still small quiet corners where the watchful watched.....

Our intrepid goblin-hinters, faerie followers and troll-huggers (more than a hundred in the day), peered and pried and found clues (tiny witch's broomsticks, stray goblin ears and troll eyebrows and even scales from a mermaid's tail!)

Under the bridge,
An old troll sits,
Fishing in the river for shoes

The wicked witch of the waters
Lives in a willow tree
Watching the water and wishing she was by the sea

Faerie team in determined action

Our discoveries gave us new stories, new friends to meet. Natalie always brings chips when she comes to the Gardens so she can share fish and chips with a troll. Unfortunately, Adam realised that a lot of the ducks (see above) are actually faeries, transformed by some cheating goblins who then had a party, got drunk and fell over. The fountain is, of course, a faerie bath and when the faeries are bathing, the ducks flee because a) who would want to see a naked faerie? and b) short-sighted faeries have been known to use ducks instead of sponges

musicians of all ages helped charm the monsters from our imaginations

by the end of it all, it felt hard to tell the difference between human and non-human.....

BOOKLOG
References used:
The Fairies (poem) by William Allingham
The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony Di Terlizzi and Holly Black
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
one of our hunters brought Natalie, the Christmas Fairy with her as a book to recommend

The Exploring with Stories poster

Our magnificent Exploring poster programme is now out filtering its way across the Peaks. This would seem to be a good opportunity to introduce you to our wonderful artist, Martin Olsson

"Martin, here is Everyone. Everyone, here is Martin."

OK. Done that. Now go visit Martin's website

And enjoy both the full Exploring poster

and then why not download the line-drawing version and colour it in yourself? Maybe send us a copy and we'll start a gallery of poster variations!