Robert Macfarlane, Stuart Maconie and the Provocation programme at Timber Festival

Gemma Gibb, Associate Editor

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Timber Festival

6-8 July 2018

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Timber festival is the place to head to this summer to meet and hear from inspirational minds in the fields of literature, science, philosophy and education who are currently contemplating what woodlands, trees and nature can mean to us today.

In Wilderness Tracks, BBC Radio 4’s Geoff Bird will be joined by best-selling author of The Lost Words Robert Macfarlane, multi-instrumentalist Erland Cooper and BBC Radio 6 Music and Radio 3 presenter Elizabeth Alker for lively conversation and eclectic musical choices as they reveal the six nature-related songs that have made it onto the wilderness soundtrack of their lives.

Those inspired by Macfarlane’s quest to collect and preserve natural words should not miss the chance to catch the premiere of the outdoor theatre adaptation of Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s bestselling book The Lost Words: Seek, Find, Speak at the festival too.

Broadcaster, writer and president of The Ramblers Stuart Maconie, meanwhile, will deliver Timber’s inaugural keynote session. Having walked the woods and byways of this country for decades, Stuart will muse on the changing nature of the landscape in a post-industrial Britain, the great pull of the natural world and how rambling ever became cool.

Robert Macfarlane
Robert Macfarlane

Hear from Chris Watson, the world renowned recorder of wildlife and natural phenomena. In an interview with Elizabeth Alker, he will be revealing how he brings the joys of the natural world to life in the TV, radio and film programmes we know and love.

BBC Presenter Lindsey Chapman (Springwatch Unsprung) will be chairing Happily Ever After. Together with panellists including authors Sara Maitland (Gossip From The Forest), poet Karen McCarthy Woolf (Seasonal Disturbances, An Aviary of Small Birds) and storyteller Ian Douglas, expect rich discussion about how forests have provided some of the most evocative backdrops in literature, art and film. From Gawain to Grimm, Shakespeare’s Arden to Boorman’s Deliverance and beyond.

Karen McCarthy Woolf will be performing brand new piece The Music of Trees, specially commissioned for the festival and Jonathan Drori will be reading from his first book, Around the World in 80 Trees, sharing fascinating stories of his encounters with majestic trees from all over the globe.

Lindsey Chapman
Lindsey Chapman

Twitchers can rejoice by putting the new Collins Bird Guide app to the test in a walk with eminent nature publisher Myles Archibald. Take part in a discussion on birdlife with a panel of ardent bird lovers including the RSPB’s Jaqueline Wier, poet Paul Farley, guitarist and BBC Radio 3 presenter Tom McKinney and birdwatcher and author Tim Dee.

There’s also the chance to take a walk in the forest with award-winning poet and BBC Radio 4 presenter Paul Farley as he explores how philosophers and thinkers revolutionised our relationship with woodlands and can help us to “live deliberately” today.

If this isn’t quite enough food for thought, there are daily sessions on environmental stories of the moment chaired by The Ecologist and My Green Pod, a discussion on From Field To Fork chaired by Pebble magazine, Living With Trees, curated by radical arts and environmental charity Common Ground and the role on money-making on sustaining Britain’s Woodlands with Making Local Woods Work. Not to mention the chance to have further discussions every evening in Charcoal Sessions with leading thinkers including Tony Greenham, Alun Watkins and Melissa Sterry.

Contemplate all you have discovered while relaxing in tents suspended between the trees, on a dawn run or in the eco spa. Phew.

Where to go near Robert Macfarlane, Stuart Maconie and the Provocation programme at Timber Festival

Manchester
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Black Redstart Gallery

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RJC Dance Xmas Show
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RJC Dance

RJC Dance, based in Chapeltown, Leeds, champions youth and education, leading inclusive Black dance in the North through national partnerships.

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Manchester
Gallery
texture mcr

Possibly one of the city’s most mysterious art galleries, texture is a small and perfectly-formed independent space in Ardwick.

The Beacon at Cliffe Castle Park
Bradford
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Cliffe Castle Park

Cliffe Castle Park hosts the Beacon, a stunning performance space that will be touring the district throughout Bradford UK City of Culture 2025.

Hern Food
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Hern

This produce-driven bistro in Chapel Allerton, Leeds, prides itself on cooking with the only finest ingredients and his headed up by Cordon Bleu-trained chef Rab Adams.

Indie Makers
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Indie Makers, located in Leads’ corn exchange, trades in art and gifts from independent makers across the UK.

Plant Point
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Plant Point

Plant Point is designed to help you bring the jungle into your urban or suburban space. The home of beautiful plants in Leeds.

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Eat Your Greens

Eat Your Greens is a vibrant, organic restaurant bringing a hint of European flair to the city’s plant-based dining scene.

Sela opened in 2004 with an idea to provide quality imported beers from around the world, fun cocktails to compliment the beer selections and a stage for the region’s finest and most talented musicians to play on.Over ten years later, we’re still all about the beer, cocktails, live music and pizza!We carry over a selection of over thirty different beers spanning the globe from Pickering with The Great Yorkshire Brewery’s Yorkshire Blackout, to New York with a selection from Brooklyn Brewery, and Belgium with longtime Sela favourite, Vedett.Our cocktails change regularly too. Our best-sellers are joined by fun, new offerings and our pizza menu is regarded as one of the best the city of Leeds has to offer.As for the live music, Sela has had not only the great and the good from the region. Local funksters, The New Mastersounds are regular visitors and we stage the amazing Mojah Reggae Band for their weekly Wednesday residency.  Our other long running programming incl
Leeds
Restaurant
Sela Bar & Pizzeria

Sela Bar is a cosy Leeds basement spot with live music, great drinks, and a cool, laid-back, atmospheric vibe.

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