Daniella Turbin, one of our Creative Practitioners, reports on her latest project which takes her across Britain, including Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

In May I set out on a twelve month walk around Britain. Over the next year I will be travelling through all of its counties, connecting its towns and cities through walking. Whilst the walks will largely be solitary, this feels like the perfect opportunity to meet and share a walk with locals who have got to know their home soil through the simple act of taking a walk. 

If you look at my plan for the walk, it might be a bit unclear of my intention, and probably looks more like a meander rather than a walk with a purpose. The route has been plotted so that I touch upon every county, and will start and finish in the City of Wolverhampton in Staffordshire. 

After leaving Wolverhampton the first leg of my tour took me into the counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

I felt a sense of comfort knowing that I would be starting my journey in familiar territory, and would have the chance to find my rhythm in the comfort of the Shropshire Hills. This is home to fellow walking enthusiasts such as Kate Green. Kate is a fellow walking artist, and somebody whose home is in Shropshire. I was looking forward to meeting her (and her dog Dot). After spending several days walking alone, their company was even more of a delight! 

We had agreed to meet part way along the Jack Mytton Way, she started at a car park in Rushbury just off Wenlock Edge (and my planned stopping point that evening). When I arrived at Church Stretton, which Kate described to me as a walkers town (and after stocking up on beans, bananas, and sardines), aside from a small farm shop in Rushbury there weren’t really any food shops until I reached Clee Hill. I dropped Kate a WhatsApp to let her know my progress and we met on the path connecting Rushbury and Church Stretton passing through the villages of Chelmick, Birtley, Ticklerton and Eaton. 

Whilst I have planned the overall journey, my daily walks are usually plotted through looking at my paper Ordnance Survey maps in the evening. You can usually count on the long distance walking trails such as the Shropshire Way or the Jack Mytton Way to be well trodden and an easier way of getting from A to B, which is an advantage when carrying a heavy pack! (Just a few days earlier I had travelled a lesser defined path and ripped my tent on barbed wire), so thought it wise to start exercise a bit of caution when carrying a two and a half stone load! 

When I’m not walking between towns and cities, and have the chance to take a rest day, it is far easier to explore the less frequented public footpaths. A glass maker and aspiring florist (with a beautiful garden) kindly took me on one of her favourite lockdown walks from her home on the Clee Hill. She loves picking and drying flowers, so this was the perfect opportunity for her to gather some flowers along roadside verges. Starting on the Clee Hill, we walked alongside streams and through cattle fields to one of her favourite churches at Coreley. That evening she had let me pitch my tent and stay in her garden, so after a perfect sunny day, we looked across to see the Malverns, Brown Clee and Whitley light up, as flames were lit to commemorate the begining of weekend-long Jubilee celebrations.

As I left the Clee Hill, I passed through villages getting ready for community picnics and celebrations, and felt a sense of ease in the kindness that I had been shown on my journey so far. 

As we are all too aware, during lockdowns, there wasn’t much to do in the way of shared pastimes, and so much of the country took to exploring their local area on foot. As I pass through Britain’s towns and cities, I feel acutely aware of my presence within a place as being quite ‘tourist’ like, therefore I am keen to invite others to join me on sections of the walk, in particular locals and those with a knowledge and appreciation of their local landscape. 

If you would like to stay up to date with progress, or even join Daniella on sections of the walk, you can follow the project via her Instagram account or contact her directly.