Timber Festival is the first of its kind in the UK, its a festival that explores the impacts of forests. It does this by bringing together writers, artists, poets, scientists and philosophers during a three-day event in the heart of the finest woodlands England has to offer. The festival's programme was packed with incredible arts and culture, inspirational adventures and wonderful moments for the whole family to enjoy.
As someone who is well cemented by their interests in arts and culture this festival was right up my street and I couldn't wait to check it out for myself.
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
Located at Feanedock, 70-acres of woodland came to life at Timber. This woodland is unique as it is the boldest environmentally-led regeneration project available in the country. It's the first forest to be created at scale in the country for over 1,000 years. With over 8.5 million trees being planted it's transforming the landscape that had been left scarred and derelict by the closure of the Midlands coalfield. However, there's still areas where you can still some of the coalfield in the distance.
Timber Festival has been created by the
National Forest and award-winning producers of
Just So Festival,
Wild Rumpus. I initially want to say that this is a festival I'd like to see on the festival circuit for years to come because its fantastic and offers more than just live music, but a purpose all of us can get involved with.
From the get go the site was laid back and friendly but incredibly professional. We pulled up straight into the car park, there were no queues or hassle to content with and we could park pretty close to the entrance.
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
Timber offers the tranquillity and peace from your surroundings as well as 11 different areas for you to explore at your own pace and get stuck into too. The array of activities available offer something for everyone to enjoy and to try something new with your family too.
The festival doesn't come with the big names in music and quite frankly it doesn't miss the mark with what it does have in its place. There's sound installations, storytelling, soundscapes and DJ sets as well some great music acts. We caught
Sivu at the
Eyrie Stage, a fantastic wood structure in the heart of the forest space. He had a gorgeous tone to his voice and his music is definitely raw, honest and soul-bearing stuff.
The Nightingale stage which was outdoors almost felt traditional in the festival sense of things and there were plenty of people who were sat enjoying the great sunshine and music that Timber has to offer.
Timber brought together some fantastic opportunities to get involved in the world of arts, crafts and enterprise rooted in the forest, creating a vibrant living landscape like no other. There really was loads on offer in the best of circus, theatre, comedy and dance in a woodland playground. I gave the
Woodland Slacklines a good go, balancing as i walked from tree to tree.
Ian Douglas' Campfire Stories gathered people to enjoy riveting storytelling inspired by British folk tales and world myths. We loved checking out the Bee Farmer, David McDowell in his
Bee Experiences. It was an interactive experience that told you all about a special pollinator project that is set up close to the Timber site.
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
We also saw that you could get your own hands dirty and get involved in some fantastic Woodland Workshops on site, including Straw Bale Building Workshops and Using Drones and Wildlife Night-Cams.
One of my favourite things to check out was the
Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram. The Gathering Light Installation is a spectacle in its own right and completely transformed the forest space on which it was suspended. It measures seven metres in diameter and features a 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. It's at an approximate scale of 1:500000 and each centimetre of the internally lit structure represents 5km of the moon's surface. There's also a soundscape to it which has been created by BAFTA and Ivor Novello award winning composer Dan Jones. It was gorgeous to see and I would have loved to have seen how it transforms once the sun goes down. You can find out more about the Museum of the Moon and where you can check it out for yourself
here.
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| Credit: Carpe Diem Emmie. |
If you'd like to be the first to hear about Timber in 2019 and news of early bird tickets, you can sign up to their newsletter
here.
If you enjoyed reading this then you may enjoy reading about my experience at Latitude Festival.
