Miserden: Part One | A Strange and Unnatural Clearing

GLOOM AT THE EDGE OF THE VILLAGE

It's hard to put into words the feeling of heading into Miserden. It should be no different to arriving in the countless other Cotswold villages I've found myself in, but it very much is.

Our collaborative projects with Emma and Cia have brought us here. At a glance, you would notice nothing unusual. It has the kind of beautiful stone buildings you'd expect to find in the Gloucestershire countryside, a nice pub, and people who are friendly enough. All seems well, until you reach the edge of the village.

TANGLED TREES AND RIVER BONES

Here on a cold February day, with the village behind us, I begin to feel like dripping paint being pulled down the steep hills that funnel you into a place you can't quite see.

At the bottom, the path enters the woods, hemmed in by tall, leafless trees and rising slopes. We stop to take a few photographs before continuing on to a low bridge beneath which the River Frome passes silently. To the left, it winds its way through a haunted-looking meadow bordered by a wall of pines. I often find myself thinking about that meadow. On the right, there are deer bones in the water.

Leaving the path, we follow a mud-slick track that twists awkwardly between beech, ash and oak, through pockets of woodland that quickly leave you disoriented.

Everything feels fresh and alive in the winter sunlight. That is, until the trees begin to thin and we find ourselves emerging into a clearing of barren ground.

IN A STRANGE AND UNNATURAL CLEARING

At this point, I'm not entirely sure what we've arrived at.

Though the space opens out before us, it feels strangely claustrophobic. The air is heavy and still. We drop our gear and begin setting up for another shoot.

As I wander off to explore, I discover that we are completely encircled by a moat of still, bluish water of the most unnatural colour. It's the kind of place that feels as though you ought not to be there.

I'm not a superstitious person, but standing there, it's difficult to shake the feeling that something dreadful happened on this ground long ago.

THE PERFECT LOCATION

Both Andy and I are absolutely thrilled that Emma and Cia introduced us to Miserden. It seems that every hundred yards or so you stumble across some strange backdrop that's perfectly suited to the style of photographs we shoot.

I'm used to wandering off and exploring on my own, and I rarely find myself troubled by my surroundings. But I can honestly say that there is something about Miserden that feels strange and unfamiliar. It is the sort of woodland that fairy tales are written about.

Throughout our first day there, we took several sets of beautiful photographs with Emma in her Gothic armour. While we were in the clearing, the temperature began to drop and the light slowly started to fade, so we packed up and made our way back towards the village.

As the sun sank lower in the sky, we had half an hour or so to shoot a final set of images on the hillside. These shots were Emma and Cia's idea. I kept shooting until the light had all but disappeared.

Rarely, as an adult, do you experience a place in the way you do as a child, where imagination takes over and you become completely detached from normal life. As we walked back into the village, I realised I would happily have turned around, headed back down that hill towards the dark trees, and disappeared into them.