Stop-Simplify-Connect

Taking Students into the landscape; a philosophy of hospitality

Almost a year ago, I started taking students at the University of Cumbria out, one Saturday a month, to explore the remarkable landscape, history and culture on our doorstep. We walked, talked, climbed hills, entered ancient sites, sampled local cake, coffee and pub fare, browsed in Lakeland towns and villages…

We walked a dramatic section of Hadrian’s Wall, visited the Solway and learned about the Reivers and tumultuous times. We climbed Lake District hills and tasted the famous Grasmere gingerbread. We relaxed at Rydal Hall, reflected in its Chapel, slowed at the end of term and wandered the shops and cafes of Ambleside.

We stopped in an ancient stone circle, visited an Anglo-Saxon place of pilgrimage, paused in a priory and travelled deep into Kielder Forest to learn about the universe and try to spot stars.

The trips were varied: some involved hills and longer walks, others gentle paths and villages. Some had a focus on history and heritage, others simply on being outdoors together. Beneath the variety was the same invitation:

Stop long enough to breathe and notice. Step away from deadlines and pressure,

Simplify life down to walking, noticing, listening and being with others

Connect with the landscape, stories of the region, with others, with your own feelings and maybe, with a sense of God.

Beneath this spoken and printed strapline was an unspoken invitation to place, pilgrimage, hospitality, creation and spiritual exploration – and exposure to these quieter themes unfolded naturally over the year. I had not set out to manufacture spiritual experiences for students but to offer the chance to discover the richness I knew existed in places not far from the northern campuses of the university.

As we walked and travelled together, conversations sprang up. Students remembered or referred to, childhood experiences of faith, were amazed by their ‘first hike’ out in nature as we trekked Hadrian’s Wall. Some grew in confidence to explore and some admitted fears. I learned more about the way the world seemed to them and the overwhelm they felt regularly from emails and academic tasks. Visiting the Bewcastle Cross sparked a period of prayer and expressions of feeling connected, and quiet time at Rydal Hall was received warmly, as something out of the ordinary, slightly strange yet inviting.

I believe that the conversations, insights and expressions of feeling were the natural fruits of holding a gentle and evolving space in which students could find their own way and perhaps discover (or rediscover), something they were not expecting or had forgotten. In the year to come the trips are being further developed and I will be more intentional about times to reflect or ‘Pause Points’ as part of these. As the new academic year gets closer there are relationships to pick up and connections to carry, along with the sense of a community building via Stop-Simplify-Connect.

If you’d like to discuss this or could help me think it through please get in touch:

Caroline.kennedy@cumbria.ac.uk