I remember the first time I visited Candleston Campsite – the site for Between the Trees Festival 2018 – seeing the sunlight dapple the forest floor as it shone literally between the trees. On taking that first walk around the site with Dawn and Andrew I began to see the potential not just for the festival itself with its permanent toilets, running water and electricity but also how a sense of space and sound lent itself to performance. Unlike many music festivals that have to create different stages or artificial areas from scratch, here there were distinct buildings like a beached ship, yurts and a barn, as well as spaces for coming together or retreating to.
For my own Mindful Walks the site afforded the opportunity to guide people to the tune of gently babbling brooks, the smell of wild flowers carried by the river, the textures of walking over light dunes, and the sights of a thousand shades of green.
Then as the sun fell below the tree tops and the breeze stilled, I heard the sounds of violins, guitars and voices, and felt the sense of togetherness as young and old – whole families listened and danced to the range of artists from haunting melodies of Firewoodisland, the harmonies of Aaron Catlow and Kit Hawes, and the rhythm of the Noble Jack’s.
The combination of music, environmental science, art and the natural environment itself offered so many opportunities for learning, listening and living – Between the trees.
There is a place
Twixt roots, beneath leaves
On dunes, by waves
Between the trees
Where music calls
We walk, path weaves
By Merthyr Mawr
Between the trees
Bird song drifts by
Carried by, sea breeze
Sounds and sights
Between the trees
Camped out with stars
This moment seized
With you, with me, between the trees
(Tommy Carr 2018)