In the latter part of August the West Wales Action for Mental Health organisation (WWAMH) ran a celebratory event about the benefits of gardening at Clynfyw Care Farm. I was asked to provide two StillWalks taster sessions for the day.
Not having been there before I set my sat nav and followed it as it led me down a complex network of tiny country lanes. I had given myself plenty of time and so was able to be relaxed about this unexpected route and enjoyed the run over there in the sunshine. I had previously met some of the people attending the event but had little time to chat at the start of the day as I needed to check out what routes may be available for the short silent walks that would form part of the StillWalks sessions.
These started with a viewing of one of the existing StillWalks videos, namely Breakers Walk, which follows a woodland footpath down to a stony, cliff-lined Bristol Channel shore on the South Wales coast. Everyone seemed to enjoy this but were not expecting me to say “no talking” on our walk. We had pause points along the short route during which we discussed the local aural environment. When we returned to the farm everyone was very complimentary and all had clearly enjoyed it.
Some of the group took part in recording different elements of the walks and the soundscape below is a good representation of the aural experience. As always the rising and falling wind in the trees is one of my personal favourite sounds.
Clynfyw Farm Walk Soundscape
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