The Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire

March - June 2023

This and top: Across the fields towards the Preselis

Three months of the last twelve were spent in a caravan in Wales. I have never been so close to nature for so long. I maintained the gardens and guesthouses for my host and observed the changing landscape from winter to spring and then into summer from my caravan window. 

I was awoken early one morning by the caravan shaking, i rubbed my eyes and looked out of the window to see a flock of sheep and their lambs knocking into my caravan while munching on the plants i had put in the ground the day before. I promptly jumped out of bed, chucked some jeans and trainers on and chased them out of the field. The sheep scarpered clumsily, while lumps of poo tumbled from their backsides, I couldnt help but chuckle. They returned several mornings in a row which I had to admire. Their bold spirit was akin to that of the museum technician in Munich recently who smuggled his own painting into the Pinakothek der Moderne and screwed it into the wall, alongside work by Cy Twombly and Francis Bacon. He was subsequently fired and banned for life from the museum. The sheep obviously don’t take any notice of banning orders!

A campfire setup amid a very weathered and wild moor

This 85ft ash tree was infected with dieback and so me and a local tree surgeon (mainly the tree surgeon) cut it down and split it into hundreds of pieces for fire wood. Ash burns very long and hot and so is perfect for it.

The planning and the process of actually felling the tree took at least a couple of hours. Tobias, the tree surgeon, predicted a forward fall was most likely due to the way the tree was stood but there are no guarantees with a tree that size. There was a chance that it could fall back, crushing the nearby pottery studio. Even with it toppling forwards there was likely to be some unwanted damage. It fell forwards and miraculously didn’t even harm the wire fence you can see underneath it.