On 13 September, artist-curator Caroline Allen led a walk around Hergest Ridge, for our BorderLands Walking Series. Her route provided a fascinating overview of the geology, ecology and local history of the landscape and how contemporary visual artists have responded to it.

Caroline is the founder of RidgeBank Contemporary Art Space in the heart of Kington, housed in the former Kington and HSBC Bank building. Through exhibitions and events, RidgeBank provides a platform for artists whose work responds to the landscape, people and histories of the area.

During the walk, Caroline talked about the work of the contemporary artists she has collaborated with at RidgeBank, using their practices to offer different ways of looking at and understanding the landscape. Caroline curated the walk perfectly; and at the top of the ridge, the walkers paused to watch a short film, ‘Black Hill, White Bird’ by James Roberts, which perfectly encapsulated the border landscape, near Hatterall Hill and what is means to be an artist responding to such an evocative place.

The walk also opened up conversations around the particular geography of this border landscape. Nearby Stanner Rocks marks the boundary in striking physical terms, with the surrounding fields in England and the hill itself in Wales. The site is also home to the rare Radnor Lily, which grows wild on Stanner Rock and nowhere else in Britain. The flower is currently the focus of a group exhibition at RidgeBank.

One of the most memorable objects accompanying the group was a walking stick Caroline had specially made for the day. The stick maps the geological history of the landscape to scale, stretching back around 450 million years to the present day. Against this vast span of ‘deep time’, human existence is represented by just a few tiny rivets at the very top. Carried through the landscape, it offered a tangible reminder of our brief interaction with this ancient place within a much longer geological story.

With a fantastic group joining us for the morning, the walk created space for conversation, observation and shared discovery. Moving through the landscape together offered a chance to encounter the border not simply as a line on a map, but as something embedded within geology, ecology, history and lived experience.

The BorderLands Walking Series accompanied Meadow Arts’ BorderLands exhibition at Hay Castle, extending ideas from the gallery out into the landscapes.

Join us for the remaining walks of the series with artists Verity Howard, Sunday 20 September and Sally Payen, Sunday 11 October. Tickets cost £7.50, booking essential.

The BorderLands Walking Series is funded by Arts Council Wales as part of the BorderLands programme (15 May – 31 August 2026). BorderLands was presented in partnership with Hay Castle. Made possible thanks to funding from The de Laszlo Foundation, The Colwinston Charitable Trust 30th Anniversary Fund and Arts Council England.