Diary dates: 6.30pm – midnight, Thurs 20th April to Sat 13th May 2017 (various dates)
Folk music star Sam Lee offers a nighttime walk to a unique concert by wild nightingales and special guest musicians as the thrilling finale to a campfire feast, featuring songs, wildlife insights, gourmet food and story telling
Green Farm Kent, at Shadoxhurst, near Ashford.
Folk music star Sam Lee is bringing a series of after-dark celebrations of one of Britain’s rarest birds – the nightingale – to remote ancient woodlands near Ashford in Kent this Spring as part of Green Farm’s efforts to help more people to engage with nature.
The SINGING WITH NIGHTINGALES series starts at Green Farm Kent, Shadoxhurst, on Thursday 13 April, to coincide with when nightingales arrive in England from their wintering grounds in Africa, and then continues on selected nights throughout their song-filled mate-seeking season.
Each event will feature a campfire gathering with music, story-telling, wildlife lore, a 2-course backwoods feast, followed by a silent walk to a location favoured by birds that are widely believed to be nature’s finest singers.
Maryann Richmond-Coggan who runs Green Farm with her husband, Martin, says: “We’re delighted Green Farm is one of only four UK locations for Sam Lee’s magical SINGING WITH NIGHTINGALES events. These events will allow us to share our good fortune in having nightingales in our ancient woodland and chime perfectly with a stepping up of our efforts to give more people the chance to experience being outdoors amid nature. This includes running our community wildlife garden, starting new wildlife conservation projects with Kent Wildlife Trust and, from this summer, arranging for more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to encounter nature on our farm.”
Sam Lee, a Mercury Prize nominee and BBC Folk Awards winner, soon to be heard on the soundtrack of the new Guy Ritchie movie KING ARTHUR: THE LEGEND OF THE SWORD, will be among the performers taking part in the Green Farm events, alternating with other stars of the UK’s folk, classical, world and jazz music scenes.
He says: “The song of the nightingale has been captivating human hearts and imaginations since ancient times and our SINGING WITH NIGHTINGALES events give guests the chance to experience this same timeless magic in ear-tingling proximity with the unique addition of listening in on the rarest of concerts – a varied cast of superbly talented human musicians dueting with one of the very finest voices in Nature.”
Places at the SINGING WITH NIGHTINGALES events at Green Farm start at £72 each, including food, drinks, entertainments and booking fees and are strictly limited to 25 people per night. Green Farm dates are April 20, 21, 22, 28 and 29; May 5, 6 and 12. To book, or find out about other locations for the series, please see: www.singingwithnightingales.com.
SINGING WITH NIGHTINGALES is a production of the London-based, The Nest Collective, a BBC Folk Award-winning, network of folk, world and new music performers and venues, set up by Sam Lee in 2006.
