This year I return to three favourite places on the Suffolk coast for a brand new set of writer’s walks – three locations that have provided inspiration for my own writing. The Suffolk Coast is a place of constant change – it can be edgy and unsettling, as well as beautiful – perfect material for gripping writing of all kinds.
With one Saturday workshop a month in June, July and August, we will be visiting three very different places, with their own tales, histories, and landscapes to explore.
Workshop 1. Arrivals and Departures – Felixstowe’s Wild Edge
The first Writer’s Walk, on Saturday June 11th 2022, is at Landguard Peninsula in Felixstowe, in the south of Suffolk – a place that is not as well-known as it should be. Jutting out into the sea, under famously wide Suffolk skies, this shingle peninsula has a well-preserved Napoleonic Fort and rusting WWII defences. Nearby is a modern port that hosts the world’s biggest container ships, while in the past famous ships sailed out from Harwich, just across the water. The peninsula is also a nature reserve, with rare plants and migrating birds. It is windswept, wild and very beautiful.
The aim of this workshop is to find inspiration in contrasting landscapes, as well as to begin to explore the benefits of mindful writing.
Workshop 2. Mermen, Bombs and Smugglers’ Trails – Strange Tales of Orford Town
My second destination, on July 2 2022, is another of my Suffolk haunts, Orford Town and River. This workshop is set along the Ore estuary, and in the well-preserved village of Orford. We will uncover its once important past, as well as legends and tales associated with this secretive part of Suffolk. We will also look at the natural landscape of tides, mud and saltings – the Suffolk word for salt marsh.
The aim of this workshop is to use the tales, legends and tidal landscape as tools for creating a strong sense of place in your writing – wherever you are setting your work.
Workshop 3. The Sea Spell – The Lost City of Dunwich
Workshop 3 is on 6th August 2022, at Dunwich Beach. Dunwich is another of Suffolk’s so-called lost towns. This once bustling medieval port is now reduced to a few houses – its harbour slowly silted up, and then much of the town was destroyed by a tidal surge. Here are evocative ruins, tales of underwater bells, the sweeping shingle beach and crumbling cliffs.
The aim of this workshop is to use landscape to create atmosphere in your writing. Like the previous two workshops in Felixstowe and Orford, you will come away with tools that you can apply to your own landscapes, as well as a workbook to develop your ideas.
Click here to find out more details and to book. Places are strictly limited.
I really look forward to seeing you out in the landscape for these writer’s walks. I hope they inspire you to explore writing through landscape, and landscape through your writing! I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Email Liz at info@writerrevealed.co.uk.