Crackpot Hall Sound Walk

What to expect

Led by sound artists Tim Shaw and John Coburn, this event will enable a group of up to 15 participants to engage in a sound walk from Keld up to and around the derelict Crackpot Hall. Overlooking the Swaledale valley, Crackpot Hall is a ruined 18th century farmhouse on the crossroads of the Coast to Coast Path and the Pennine Way.

A sound walk is a listening experience that uses a range of microphones to capture and live mix the real time sounds of the immediate environment- from birdlife, to life under water, to otherwise imperceptible sounds like vibrations and electro magnetic sounds.

Participants will experience these sounds via provided wireless headphones while moving through the landscape.

The event aims to inspire a curiosity around Swaledale soundscapes that are familiar, unfamiliar and changing.

Duration of event

The sound walk itself will last approximately 45 minutes. We expect to walk as a group towards Crackpot Hall for approximately 15 minutes before the sound walk begins, and 15 minutes on our return leg.

We hope to allow time for discussion while up at Crackpot Hall.

After the sound walk participants will be invited to join the artists for a drink in a nearby cafe, to discuss the sounds, and their wider context.

Meeting Point and Finish Point

We will meet outside the Keld Resource Centre (Keld, Richmond DL11 6LJ) by 10.30am. Tim Shaw and John Coburn will be there from 10.20am.

Please note, we will have departed on the walk by 10.35am, after which point it will not be possible to contact the event organiser.

The walk will finish at the starting point – outside the Keld Resource Centre.

Recommendations

Please wear appropriate footwear and weatherproof clothing. While the walking speed will be slow to moderate, we will be walking on uneven, potentially muddy ground.

Children are welcome but must be accompanied by an adult.

Parking

Public parking is available in the village, although we cannot guarantee available spaces.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge and thank The Gunnerside Estate for granting us permissions to access the private land around the site of Crackpot Hall.

About this Project:

This event forms part of a project led by artists Tim Shaw and John Coburn, as part of the Creatively Connected arts project.

Through 2025, John and Tim are collecting and sharing sounds of social and environmental identities of Swaledale. Through participatory sound and listening, we will consider the impact of human interventions and high nature value farming within this landscape.

Starting with the aesthetic experience of sonic abundance, paucity and loss – that connects us to everything from bird life, to soil, to social and planetary change– we will provoke discussions around the positive and negative impact of human interventions on relative abundancy vs loss.

All collected sounds at these activities- captured by artists, public participants, farmers, visiting public – will be added to our emerging artist-led sound archive of this place.

About Creatively Connected:

Creatively Connected is an arts project which aims to develop creative conversations about farming, nature and the landscape. The project is led by artists Azadeh Fatehrad, Laura Harrington, John Coburn & Tim Shaw and Matt Denham and produced by Northern Heartlands.

The project invites farmers, land managers, volunteers and local residents interested in farming and nature recovery to take part in a programme of group conversations, site visits and creative activities over summer 2025 in Teesdale and Swaledale.

Creatively Connected is part of the Tees-Swale: Naturally Connected programme led by the North Pennines National Landscape team and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, which aims to put farming at the heart of nature and nature at the heart of land management.