Hindwell Thoughts

I am putting together an idea for a performance/exhibition about William Wordsworth. His cousin/brother in law Tom Hutchinson rented farms here for twenty odd years, and William and his sister Dorothy came here many times.

Wordsworth was a great walker and I am intrigued by the idea of shadowing him on possible walks from the farm at Hindwell, which is still a working farm. One idea is to follow the Hindwell river from its source at the farm to another Hutchinson farm at Broadheath, and maybe on to the confluence of rivers in this valley, where the Hindwell joins the Lugg. This would mean walking the whole river.

The point of the project is to try and see the landscape as Wordsworth saw it nearly two centuries ago; Tom H first rented Hindwell in 1809, so if we try and make it happen next year it will celebrate two centuries since their involvement began. Some walks are obvious, such as the Hindwell walk, or the walk to Old Radnor church, where the family worshipped. There are other Wordsworth sites in herefordshire/Powys which could be visited to ground the project in a broader 'Wordsworth landscape', as if his vanished presence can still influence life today. As it does for me, of course.