Woodland inspiration with Zoe Gilbert in the Weald of Kent

Unlocking Landscapes is back! In May 2022 I met with author Zoe Gilbert in Ham Street Woods National Nature Reserve on the Kent/Sussex border. Zoe is an award winning writer and she sounds very much at home in the woods. It was a real pleasure to spend the day with her and I'm very grateful for her time.

In March 2022 Zoe published her latest book, Mischief Acts (you can buy it here). The book is inspired by an historic wooded landscape in south London known as the Great North Wood. It's been covered in a couple of other podcasts for Unlocking Landscape so please see the links below. I love the book and as someone who knows parts of the landscape she has focused on, I can say for sure that she has nailed it!

In this episode we cover a lot of ground:

 

What inspires Zoe to visit woods and write fiction inspired by them
Public access to woodlands in the pandemic
The complications around public perceptions of woodlands
Mischief in the woods and National Parks
'Pics or it didn't happen': The importance not being observed all the time (social media)
Contiguousness of woodland
Bison being reintroduced to English woods
The future of woodlands
Prioritising the conservation of woodlands in a time of extremes
The importance of local landscapes

 

Links to things we mentioned for more info:

Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert
Folk (Zoe's first book)
Zoe's website
Chris Schuler: The Wood that Built London (based on GNW)

Dulwich Society

Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Angela Carter
Ham Street Woods NNR
Song thrush
Blackcap
Sweet chestnut coppice
Hornbeam

Epping Forest
Dungeness
Kings Wood
The Overstory - Richard Powers
Antisocial behaviour in lockdown
Reintroduction of bison to England