This has to be my latest obsession. I have got hooked on what the landscape can tell us about ourselves and our past using the filters of research and found texts.
Hunting the Dove.
A record of a journey, the thoughts of a 1950's poet and Melinda's reflections on the Dove. A small Suffolk river which feeds eventually into the Waveney.
'A Handful of Earth'
I wanted to make a film about the Suffolk landscape and the role farming plays in creating not only what it looks like but how it sounds. I began with smallholders and from there it grew.
"Our wages are so small, my boys, they hardly find us shoes"
This film explores one aspect of 'A Handful of Earth' - the story of the men from Mendlesham Green and their request for land. Melinda Appleby and I go to Mendlesham Green to explore the village and to look for the Mendlesham men. To my delight I discover a link with folk music in Mid Suffolk. It also gwve me an opportunity to tslk to my old neighbourr about the experiences of her father who was a horseman.
Greshaw Green
This iwas my new project exploring Greshaw Green in North Suffolk. Greshaw Green was a vast common that provided grazing for the local villages in the Saints. Only 1 acre is left. This acre has be turned into a village orchard. However This never really
developed further thsn these two films.
To me the old common has developed a life of its own which I want to explore.
This first film explores the orchard on a wet morning in April. The most notable thing about the orchard is the increase in bird song.