Embracing Autumn in the Brecks
Our quick guide for enjoying autumn to the fullest in the Norfolk and Suffolk Brecks. More
As the dark and cold of winter first began to give way to lighter mornings and evenings and even moments of sunshine, we took a moment to reflect on our relationships with nature in this creative writing workshop at Thetford Library.
Studying extracts from the writing of Mary Oliver, Derek Jarman and Zoe Gilbert, we identified features that most nature writing has in common, whether poetry, non-fiction or fiction and we used those features to create a skeleton framework for a piece. Then, using that framework, we created our own pieces of nature writing, reflecting on the relationship we have with nature in our current daily lives, and where that may have started.
Nine people took part in the session and, though we kept our work private, we covered a wide range of topics in our work: from a flower seen on a daily dog walk, to being lost on a farm, how the resilience of the natural world brings comfort and even a contemplation of mud!
Reflecting on our personal experiences with the natural world, and taking a little time to form those reflections into self-expression, can feel very therapeutic, as you can see from the feedback given by some participants below:
“Experiencing severe hearing loss I’ve found this session so motivating and enjoyed having the opportunity to express myself in writing – I’ve found it quite cathartic as nature is the one place I can relax and not have to respond to others.”
“I was pleasantly surprised to find that my childhood memory (negative) and recent moment (positive) actually linked.”
“I feel like I’ve had therapy!”
Did you know that we feature writing inspired by the Brecks on our website? If you have written a piece about, or inspired by, the Brecks, you can send it to us at brecks@suffolk.gov.uk and you may even see it featured on brecks.org!
