Mr Time and Miss Tide are two tale-tellers who lead a series of Time Walks, Story Walks and Storytelling Events around Bristol and beyond.
They have combined their extensive experience in the worlds of story, archaeology, leading groups and walks to provide an imaginative engagement with the sense of place. Blending myth, legend, history and pure invention, for this is what turns an anonymous public space in to a place with meaning.
Time Walks - in town and country are an exploration of a landscape's history and archaeology, with some stories and folk tales.
Story Walks - focus on the tales and legends, with a bit of history.
This is our events list for 2019. This will be updated with more details as we get nearer each event.
WASSAIL TALES
GLASTONBURY TOR, AVALON ORCHARD, SOMERSET
Saturday 19th January 2019, 2pm-6pm
Time & Tide Taletellers return once again with stories involving apples from around the world. At 2 there is a Tor Tour with Tales. Then a sing-song, and a Druid Wassail ceremony. Enjoy cider and nosh around the fire as we tell our tales while darkest falls from 5 until 6.
For details see nationaltrust.org.uk/glastonbury.tor
ROBIN HOOD, RAPIDS AND RADICALS : TIME WALK
FRENCHAY COMMON, BRISTOL
Saturday 11th May 2019, 1pm-3pm
Time & Tide Taletellers will take you to part of a Royal Forest where Robin Hood once roamed (yes, really), and tell other tales linked to the land around the picturesque houses and common of Frenchay village. Then we descend into the dark and rocky valley of the River Frome. Finally, emerging in to the former Landscape Garden of Oldbury Court. You will hear about a contract with the Maori people and radical free thinkers. You will also see a comet and some giant fossil moss.
A walk mostly on tarmac paths with some rocky and muddy slopes. Duration 2.5hrs (2.5 miles).
Gather at 1pm outside the White Lion pub, Frenchay, Bristol (BS16 1LZ)
£10 payable on the day. Please bring the right money. To book a place email nhresearch@gmail.com.
TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE : TOP OF THE GORGE FESTIVAL
CHEDDAR GORGE, SOMERSET
Friday 14th to Sunday 16th June 2019
Across the three days of the Top of the Gorge Festival Time and Tide Taletellers will be:-
Telling tales of High Adventure from around the world around the fireside.
Running a Wild Story Writing Workshop.
Mr Time will be giving a talk on the history, geology and archaeology of Cheddar Gorge (as he wrote the National Trust guidebook for the gorge).
MEGALITHS OF MYSTERY : TIME WALK
STANTON DREW, NORTH SOMERSET
Saturday 29th June 2019, 1pm-3.30pm
Time & Tide Taletellers on this walk will explore the large megalithic complex of Stanton Drew Stone Circles. It's many folktales will be told in full storytelling style. The secrets of its buried archaeology revealed by an archaeologist. You an (briefly) become a part of the monument itself as we reconstruct one of the lost processional ways. We also visit where the megalithic builders lived and handle one of the tools they used. The route follows the River Chew, the frontier of a powerful Pagan Saxon king and goes under something once 'slow and dirty'.
Lead by Time & Tide Taletellers, blending history, story, archaeology and folklore.
A gently undulating walk along lanes and riverside path. 2.5hrs (2,5miles) duration. NOTE:- £1 for the honesty box for the stones.
Gather at 1pm at the gate of the Church of St Mary, Penfords, North Somerset (BS39 4AJ). The roads in Pensford are narrow. Arrive early to find some space. Alternatively use the 376 Bristol- Glastonbury bus.
The nearest pub to the start of the walk is The Sun, Pensford.
To book a place email nhresearchsite@gmail.com
£10 (please bring correct change). £5 concessions and children over 10. Children under 10 free.
BEYOND AVEBURY! THE OLD RIDGEWAY AND WODEN : TIME WALK
NEAR ALTON BARNES, WILTSHIRE
Saturday 20th July 2019, 10am-1pm
Time & Tide Taletellers on this walk will explore the rich archaeology of the forgotten part of the Ridgeway beyond Avebury. We will visit a Stone Age city of the dead (see hilltop in photo), and hear a tale about the Neolithic Goddess of death. Touch the floor of an 8000 year old house. Bury someone in a round barrow (a volunteer will be needed). Hear the tale of the Saxon god Woden on the massive Dark Age frontier defenses that bare his name. Tip-toe between the orchids. And admire the view from the most spectacularly located long barrow in Britain also connected with Woden.
Lead by Time & Tide Taletellers, blending history, story, archaeology and folklore.
A gentle undulating walk along lanes and footpaths. 3 hrs (3 miles) duration.
Gather at 10am at the Car Park on the Alton Barnes to Marlborough road, Wiltshire (SN8 4LB. OS Grid Ref SU1156663834). (This is a morning event rather than afternoon as the car park can get busy later in the day)
The nearest pub is The Barge Inn, Alton Barnes (1.7 miles to the south).
To book a place email nhresearchsite@gmail.com.
£10 (please bring correct change). £5 concessions and children over 10. Children under 10 free.
TEMPLARS, TOWERS AND TUNNELS : TIME WALK
CASTLE GREEN AND TEMPLE QUARTER, BRISTOL
Saturday 17th AND Sunday 25th August 2019 AND Sunday 22nd September, 10am-1pm
Time & Tide Taletellers will explore the story and history of the Temple area of Bristol. We will guide you through the remains of the once mighty Royal Bristol Castle. Peep in to its tunnels (but we won't go in). Peer down a Saxon Holy Well. Visit the leaning tower of Temple Church and hear the tales of the Knights Templar. A narrow alley of old buildings where the Abolition of Slavery began. Contrast the medieval splendour of St Mary Redcliffe church with a humble hermit's cave (exteriors only). All this wreathed in spooky stories and local legends.
A circular city walk through some quieter streets and green spaces. 2.5 hrs (1.5 miles) duration.
Gather at 10am at St Peter's Church, Castle Green (opposite the Galleries) (BS1 3XB).
To book a place email nhresearchsite@gmail.com
£10 (please bring correct change) £5 concessions and children over 10. Children under 10 free.
HEROIC TALES
SUTTON HOO, SUFFOLK
Friday 16th August 2019, 11am and 2pm (two different sets)
Time & Tide Taletellers present for the National Trust a blend of myth and history from Anglo-Saxon times, by the gold filled grave mounds of their kings and queens. You will hear how the God Woden lost his eye, the sorrows of the Goddess Frig, the crafty life of Wayland the Smith, the surprising rise of Bathild from slave to Queen, Beowulf's fight with the monster Grendel and the story of Raedwald's Queen who maybe buried here.
Mr Time (being an archaeologist) recently wrote the new guidebook for Sutton Hoo. The cover shows King Raedwald's helmet.
This is a Free event, but there is an admission charge to the site. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/events/290a8110-4030-48d2-a5da-41583587badc/pages/details
LAND OF THE FEY : TIME WALK
LOWER FAILAND, NEAR BRISTOL
Saturday 21st September 2019, 1pm - 3.30pm
Time & Tide Taletellers will take you in to the uncanny forgotten country of Failand, west of Bristol. Walk by babbling brooks. Wind along hollow lanes. Few know its narrow wooded valleys and rolling hills. And fewer still the many hidden secrets. The Hengastone. A phantom coach. A church without a village. An invisible public park run by the remarkable Fry family. Ancient earthworks. A temperance well. And hear a long lost Dragon Story we discovered.
A walk along public footpaths and country lanes. 2.5 hrs (2.5miles) duration. The rolling hills mean there are slopes. Some of them steep. These slopes total an ascent of 120m / 400ft.
Gather at 1pm at St Bartholomew's Church, Sandy Lane, Lower Failand. (BS8 3EW. OS Grid Ref SX5148273515)
To book a place email nhresearchsite@gmail.com
£10 (please bring correct change) £5 concessions and children over 10. Children under 10 free.
GRAVE TALES : STORY WALK
ARNOS VALE CEMETERY, BRISTOL
Saturday 19th October 2019, 3-4:30pm (twilight)
Time & Tide Taletellers will guide you by tip-toe through the tombs of this wonderful wooded necropolis. Journey into the underworld of cultures from across the world. Find out what links the gravestones here to epic myths from ancient Egypt and India. Also encounter the Mexican Day of the Dead in this most appropriate of settings. And hear the first recorded ghost story.
This is a short level walk of 1.5hrs duration.
Gather by the main gates of Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol (BS4 3EW) at 3pm.
£10 with £5 concessions. Kids below 10 free. Please bring correct change.
To book a place email nhresearchsite@gmail.com
GHOST WALK
CORN STREET, BRISTOL
Saturday 26th October 7:00-8:15pm
Time & Tide Taletellers return for their annual Ghost Walk. They will led you by lantern light through the dark narrow streets of the old city. You will hear tales of the ghostly, the eerie and the just plain weird told where they actually happened.
This is a gentle walk of 1hr 15min duration.
Gather below the clock at the Corn Exchange / St Nick's Market, Corn Street, Bristol BS1 1JQ
To book a place email nhresearchsite@gmail.com
£5 (£4 concessions). Please bring correct change.
ELF TALES : CHRISTMAS STORIES
ARNOS VALE CEMETERY, BRISTOL
Saturday 1st December 11-11:45am and 1-1:45pm
Time & Tide Taletellers return for their seasonal selection of Yuletide stories for children from around the world, tales of Father Frost and winter wonders around the warming fire at the Underwood Centre, Arnos Vale Cemetery.
For details on the venue see https://arnosvale.org.uk/events/elf-christmas-stories-3/
To book a place for your child email nhresearchsite@gmail.com
£5 (please bring correct change) per child, Adults free.
OTHER FORTHCOMING EVENTS
WASSAIL TALES AND TOR TOUR
Glastonbury Tor, Somerset
Saturday 18th January 2020
More details to be added soon.
