Stories and art have the power to inspire and to heal, to connect people to nature. Memories and words, shared and written down, explored through drawings, artwork and the spoken word are powerful tools to reconnect to nature and enable us to feel part of the landscape and inspired enough to care for its protection. This cannot be done simply through signage and plaques which describe a landscape. These do not empower people, if read at all. It is not enough.

We need to use different ways to entice people further into the world of nature and help us cherish and reverse its decline, using the tools grounded not only in science but in art as well.

The new story bench in the heart of Verwood does this. We ran workshops with the communities of young people at the Youth Centre and adults with mental health conditions at the Day Centre to elicit their emotions, feelings, stories, and memories about their local area. We guided their responses, by introducing these communities to the landscape and built history, asking questions, and recording their feelings and thoughts about the natural world.

Pictures were drawn, photographs were taken, words were scooped up, and the jigsaw was fashioned into their Story Bench.