Eynsford’s Big Green Week June 2026
Explore and celebrate Eynsford and the unique Darent Valley landscape in this series of events, with something for everyone.
- 4 - 20 Jun 2026
- Eynsford
GeoPoetry Workshop – Wise Words for the Earth
2-4pm, Friday 12th June: Olive Seal Hall, Pollyhaugh
Join GeoAmbassadors Helen Nattrass and Victoria Field at the Eynsford Big Green Week for a GeoPoetry workshop.
Over a two-hour session we will write to prompts inspired by chalk, flint and earth processes to create individual reflections on our beautiful Kent landscape. We will read and respond to poems and prose on geological themes. The event is open to all, and no previous writing experience is necessary, just a willingness to participate. Bring paper and something to write with.
Workshop for adults interested in exploring ideas and writing – Booking required: £5.00. Maximum 14 places. Teas, coffee and cake/biscuits available.
To Book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e…
An Evening of Music, Poetry and Horticulture
6.30 -8.30pm Friday 12th June: St Martin’s Church
Join us for another thought provoking evening. This year we offer three different views of the valley. An evening of 3 parts: music and poetry inspired by the chalk beneath our feet, our own special river, the Darent and Tom Hart-Dykes irrepressible enthusiasm for plants. FREE, a glass of wine/soft drink provided. Donations welcome.
An introduction to our Chalk Landscape – Helen Nattress
ACT 1: Step by Step, Grain by Grain – A Walk Across Chalk and Flint
Through poetry, music and ambient sound, Victoria Field and Eduard Heyning celebrate the pilgrim paths of Kent and the iconic geology, flora and fauna that link the North Downs, the Weald and the coast. Soft chalk and hard flint come from the same deposits, and yet look and feel utterly different, one changing into the other grain by grain. As we walk a path through the landscape, we are shaped by the earth under our feet, breath by breath, step by step, and in turn, humans have shaped the Kentish landscape both quickly and slowly over the centuries. Our original poetry and musical compositions inspired by chalk and flint offer a reflective response to the deep time of geology and our precious contemporary landscape.
Dr Victoria Field is a writer and poetry therapist who has been widely published. Her latest books include a poetry collection, A Speech of Birds and a memoir of pilgrimage and marriage, Baggage: A Book of Leavings. Eduard Heyning has degrees in music and philosophy. He composes and plays clarinets and saxophones. Recent performances included the Geological Society in London, Samphire Hoe near Folkestone, and the Lilford Gallery in Canterbury.
Interval
ACT 2 – The River
Helena has begun drawing her attention to the plight of Britain’s chalk streams and is working on an upcoming project created in collaboration with the river Darent itself. For her performance she will sing a mix of original songs written in response to the river as well as traditional songs that explore our human connection to rivers in a broader sense. This will be accompanied by personal reflections of her childhood growing up near the river and her experience now as a wildlife volunteer and environmentalist.
Helena Day is a singer and songwriter living near the Darent Valley. Her soulful sound pulls influence from traditional folk as well as vocal jazz, and is deeply rooted in her natural surroundings. Her debut album ‘When all the Birds Have Flown Away’ centres on Britain’s declining bird populations and is due for release this year. Her music has been described by BBC Radio Kent as sounding “like a fairy tale”.
ACT 3 – Gardening in a chalk landscape: Tom Hart-Dyke – Tom will talk about the plants that thrive in the chalk soils of the Darenth Valley and how the changing climate will affect the species that will do will. He will be bringing samples and his usual immense enthusiasm!
Tom was born in Kent in 1976 and his horticultural passion, nurtured by his late grandmother Mary Hart Dyke. He spent his early twenties travelling the world in search of rare orchids and plants. In 2000 he was kidnapped in the Panamanian jungle on a plant hunting expedition that went dangerously wrong. The idea for the World Garden was born in the depths of despair in the Colombian jungle. After Tom’s return home to his ancestral home of has been busy building the ‘World’ in his back garden at Lullingstone Castle.
Tom continues to plant hunt around the world, gathering new plants for the World Garden. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Canterbury Christ Church University on 27th January 2017. Tom has authored two books – ‘The Cloud Garden’ (2003) and the story behind BBC2’s popular series ‘Save Lullingstone Castle’, and ‘Return to Lullingstone Castle’, produced by Keo Films entitled ‘An Englishman’s Home’ (2011). Both are on sale at Lullingstone.
The World Garden — Lullingstone Castle & The World Garden
Check out the full programme for many more events!