Harris Garden Audio Trail
The Sounds of Nature project responds to a lack of public engagement with the Harris Gardens. This is a stunning botanical garden, offering spaces for calm reflection and learning, to support wellbeing.
Artist Richard Bentley was asked to make an audio trail with children from local primary schools. This was part of a plan to open up the gardens by Duncan Zacks. He went to the University’s Art Strategy and Community Teams for advice. They, together with Richard and Charlotte Allchin, created a series of outdoor workshops.
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Schools were invited to the Harris Gardens for a day of learning, exploring and creating. The children were introduced to the Harris Garden’s ecology and history by Dr Alastair Culham and Professor Julie Hawkins. They learnt about plants in the gardens. They also wrote poems and recorded sounds from the garden and used musical instruments. These were used to make the trail, with the script written by Teresa Verney-Brookes.
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We hope that you enjoy the Harris Garden as much as the children.
Reading this in the Garden? The trail is available by clicking the tile below, or for smart phones through the Your Tour app. Alternatively you can check out a transcript.Â
