The first talk of 2026 in the University of Cumbria's Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas (CNPPA) was given by Dr Chris Routledge. This interesting talk was on the evolving landscape of the Lake District and how we can explore and tell its layered and complex history through photography and art.
How shall I paint thee? Be this naked stone
My seat, while I give way to such intent;
Pleased could my verse, a speaking monument,
Make to the eyes of men thy features known.
But as of all those tripping lambs not one
Outruns his fellows, so hath Nature lent
To thy beginning nought that doth present
Peculiar ground for hope to build upon.
To dignify the spot that gives thee birth,
No sign of hoar Antiquity's esteem
Appears, and none of modern Fortune's care;
Yet thou thyself hast round thee shed a gleam
Of brilliant moss, instinct with freshness rare;
Prompt offering to thy Foster-mother, Earth! 
Characters in many Gothic novels also find themselves benighted in the wildwood. The wildwood in all of these literary examples takes on a character and importance of its own, central to the structure of the narrative work.
My seat, while I give way to such intent;
Pleased could my verse, a speaking monument,
Make to the eyes of men thy features known.
But as of all those tripping lambs not one
Outruns his fellows, so hath Nature lent
To thy beginning nought that doth present
Peculiar ground for hope to build upon.
To dignify the spot that gives thee birth,
No sign of hoar Antiquity's esteem
Appears, and none of modern Fortune's care;
Yet thou thyself hast round thee shed a gleam
Of brilliant moss, instinct with freshness rare;
Prompt offering to thy Foster-mother, Earth!
Other literary references included Roger Deakin’s Wildwood and Oliver Rackham’s Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape. Also, the use of the woods and forests as a place of enchantment and fear in fairy tales; as well as Mole’s adventures in Kenneth Graham's The Wind in the Willows. In a chapter entitled Mole in the Wildwood, Mole ventures alone into the dark, intimidating Wild Wood to meet Mr. Badger, despite Rat’s warnings. He becomes lost and terrified by the, spooky, and, untrustworthy, woods, eventually hiding in a hollow tree. Rat rescues him, and they stumble upon Badger’s home for safety.
Characters in many Gothic novels also find themselves benighted in the wildwood. The wildwood in all of these literary examples takes on a character and importance of its own, central to the structure of the narrative work.
However, as Dr Routledge speculates, when were there last "wildwoods" in the UK? He suggests that most, if not all, of true wildwood was gone by the end of the Bronze Age. So, is what we are left with more of a memory, the true definition of the sublime? Beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.
A very interesting and thought provoking talk.