The Last Freedom - alternative audio guide with Flavian Capes and Frank Turner, Tollesbury, Essex
Channel: Tilly Shiner
Date: 08/09/2021

The Last Freedom 
[59.34 mins]

'marshman' Flavian Capes meets musician Frank Turner on a guided walk around the salt marshes in Tollesbury, Essex. 

Flavian is a self confessed ‘archeology nerd’, local historian, boat builder and wild living enthusiast and has lived on boats for 30 years. His vast knowledge encompasses his personal experiences of foraging local flora and fauna, the extraordinary tidal landscape and landmarks to the local myths, pre-history and traditions of the marshes.

Frank is a punk-folk singer songwriter who has released eight albums and toured worldwide. He is a self confessed ‘history nerd’ and has recently moved to the Essex coast.

As a person with high functioning autism, Flavian uses walking and journeying to map his vast knowledge and relationship to the unique landscape around him. He leads Frank on an idiosyncratic walking guide, covering everything from hunter-gathering, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Kylie Minogue, boat building, birdsong, Popeye, Co-operatives, absinthe, jam, Red Hills, Romans, Samphire, mud walking, deer tracking, hawks, Polynesians, Bonsai, tides, pottery, salt and more.

Tollesbury has a unique and unsentimental landscape of vast salt marshes and wilderness - a landscape that dramatically changes each day with the tide and each year with the seasons. A village 'at the end of the road', it has maintained many idiosyncrasies, rich peculiarities and local traditions, with a strong community and identity.
Teenagers run in packs through the thick black mud towards the sea at low tide. At high tide, villagers gather at the water edge as it spills over onto the road, flooding unsuspecting cars. Locals watch the marshland transform.
Estuary Essex has always been a sanctuary for outsiders and transgressors - from pirate radio stations (Radio Caroline on the nearby River Blackwater) to artists, musicians and creatives looking for an escape from the city.
Tollesbury Wick is a Freshwater grazing marsh, Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) & Special Protection Areas (SPA) 600 acres.
There are around 20 miles of walking routes and footpaths in the area.

This project is supported by the Arts Council England. Audio was recorded by House of Noise. Graphic design by work-form. Project conceived by Tilly Shiner.
Thank you to Jo Barratt and Eleanor Von Browne for your help and advice.
© Tilly Shiner 2021