For the past thirty years, I’ve been chasing the answer to this question: ‘What did our ancestors know living so close to the Earth that we have lost?’ This journey has led me to explore my ancestral lands, tracing back seven generations, which I began earlier this year.

I have created this short film about my recent visit to ancestral lands in Northamptonshire. A thirty-mile detour brought me to the village of Helpston, where I immersed myself in the life and landscape of John Clare and the impact of the Enclosures two hundred years ago.