Tranquillity and Naturalness

The CPRE has this concept of tranquillity and uses it to measure some of what's valued in the countryside. They have mapped it and say it's harder to find places away from noise such as from roads and aircraft. As tranquil tends to be a synonym for quiet there can be a slight problem with natural sounds which they usually say are acceptable e.g. near a waterfall, in a thunderstorm or even standing next to a very loud blackbird like the one in my garden the other day. Most of us would not use such natural sounds to disqualify a site from being tranquil, but it's still a bit of a stretch from the pure meaning of the word.

This morning in the valley below the north side of Bole Hill there was a strong blustery wind, the water in the stream was louder than usual and there was no shortage of birdsong. But the blessing was that we could hear no aircraft and no road traffic. The wind was taking that away from us. It was worthwhile simply standing, enjoying and thinking about it. This was commonplace 50 years ago, even later than that. But this morning we had something else, something Mark Fisher has recently discussed - 'naturalness'. This adds something to tranquillity because it brings in what we can see as well as what we can or can't hear. We'll never be able to pin down the definition exactly, each of us differing slightly, but the key element in naturalness has to be the absence of human intervention in recent times. It may once have been an exploited area but nature has been allowed to return. Mark discusses abandonment and wonders if we can avoid its negative overtone. Giving a place back to nature must be a positive decision. This favourite valley in May with summer visiting birds singing and including the cuckoo's call has on the right day many of the ingredients we should treasure.