Roaming Flags: guided walk and flag-making activities

Explore and celebrate the natural abundance and rich history of Bumble Hole nature reserve with this day of walking, art and creativity.

Bumble Hole nature reserve may appear to be an idyllic natural setting but in reality it's a landscape shaped almost entirely by industrial activity. 150 years ago it was a site riddled with coal pits, coke furnaces, boatyards, boiler works, brick kilns, clay pits and spoil heaps. Not to mention the constant chug of materials being transported by water and rail. Today though the contrast couldn't be greater - this former hive of extractive industry is now a peaceful haven for wildlife, waterfowl, insects, flora, grassland and trees.

This event, lead by members of the Walkspace collective, will celebrate the reclamation of this land by nature with a sensory guided walk followed by a flag-making workshop. We will visit some of the key points of interest around the reserve using a series of fun prompts to connect with the landscape. We will use the walk to generate ideas and inspiration for the flag-making activities which will follow the walk, taking place outside the visitor centre. The cotton flags will be in a range of sizes and styles and they will be pre-coloured with natural dyes made from plants found locally. There will be a range of stamps, stencils, inks and other materials for participants to experiment with in their designs. No artistic skills or experience is required.

The flags that we create will later be used in a public celebratory procession on 13th August, for which the workshop participants are welcome to return. Inspired by Tibetan prayer flags, we shall be using five different colours: blue, white, red, green and yellow to represent the five elements of sky, air, fire, water and earth. Rather than being an exercise in patriotic territory claiming, the flags will represent nature and the waterways reasserting their own stake in the land.