Country diary: Where better to learn about the resilience of life? | Nicola Chester

Greenham Common, West Berkshire: This is a place of both human and animal community, migrating birds, peaceful heath. It wasn't always thusAs I get out of my car, beside the old control tower at this former RAF and US airbase, I hear a woodlark. It barrels over, a fluttering round ball with a melancholy twist on its hallelujah. I'm helping to lead a walking, writing and photography workshop with young people from Wiltshire, for the charity Thriving Through Venture, which aims to stimulate positive shifts in mindset through community action.No better place to start than here. Despite its association with the military, this is a wild space, shaped by human stories of freedom, hope, war, resistance, peace and refuge. It has its own communities: volunteers, conservationists, historians, runners, dog walkers, families and wildlife, which all intersect. Continue reading...