Hello and welcome to 5 minutes in nature.
Oh my goodness,
I wish you could see where I am right at the moment.
I'm up on Dartmoor,
Halfway up a hill,
Sitting on a granite boulder,
And if I just touch the boulder it's warm in the sunshine,
It's been warmed up through the day I think,
And as I look down the hillside there are hundreds and hundreds of green stalks probably standing about two foot high.
These are green ferns,
Green bracken,
Starting to come through and stand tall and their leaves are now starting to unfold.
In a few days time this is going to be absolutely covered in green.
They take over the hillside so quickly and it goes from being this orangey brown of the dead bracken that died from the year before,
To suddenly being almost like eye-achingly green.
So it's in the in-between phase right at the moment.
Just below me is a hawthorn tree,
Thick with white blossom.
It's such a delight to see.
As I look down in the valley with the trees I can see the white of the hawthorn flowers blossoming amongst the green of the other trees that are now absolutely in full leaf.
It's such a joy to be here today up on Dartmoor and I sit on this rock remembering the walk I did with my sister as we walked along Exmoor up following the River Ex up to its source.
And this was a walk and there's a part of it that I wanted to share with you as I remember it so clearly and it keeps popping into my head so I think I want to share this with you.
There was a time we were walking up the final valley where the River Ex was just a stream and we were walking up towards the source of the river itself.
It was our final day of walking.
And the valley was steep-sided,
Very steep-sided.
So difficult to climb up.
Eventually we did have to climb up the valley.
But before we did that we sat down for lunch.
And I just want you to imagine this scene.
It was a beautiful warm day.
We were sitting under green beech trees.
The leaves had come out they were that fresh green.
We were in the shade.
A branch had fallen off one of the trees,
Probably in one of the storms and it made a perfect seat for us.
So we were sitting on the branch on moss which had dried because it's been quite dry recently eating our lunch,
Looking at the River Ex which was just a little stream bubbling down through the valley.
And it was one of those moments that felt sacred.
And as my sister and I were eating our lunch and watching the scenery and just really drinking it in and soaking it in I had a real sense that the landscape is something that is alive.
So bear with me here.
It's going to be something I'm going to try and put into words and I'm curious myself to know how it's going to land in this particular recording.
But the way that I see it and the way that it occurred to me as I looked at this landscape and felt intense gratitude and respect for it.
The beauty of it was astounding.
And it occurred to me as I was looking at this landscape that it wanted to be seen.
It wanted to be appreciated and acknowledged.
It understood at some level the beauty that it was and there was something in the relationship of me seeing that beauty.
And that's what really strikes me today as I'm sitting on this rock on a hillside overlooking a different valley with a different stream and today it's the Ludbrook.
I can't quite see it.
I'm a bit higher up on the hillside and the valley of trees covers the stream completely from my vantage point.
But it's a similar feeling.
It's like the land is saying look at me not in a boastful way but in a way that's encouraging me to be in relationship with it.
To acknowledge it.
To say thank you to it for its beauty that comes year after year after year.
My sense is that this is about us being in relationship with the land and feeling a deep sense of gratitude at the way it reminds us that we are all connected.
