outside, it is beautiful. An introduction...a provocation...
outside it is beautiful is a community audio stories project about nature and heritage set on the Bentham Train Line, which runs between Leeds skirting the edges of the Yorkshire Dales and the Forest of Bowland, ending in Morecambe.
With this project, communities will come together and work with us, local artists and organisations, to create words, stories, and sounds about the places they live in, and the natural landscapes and wildlife around them. They will excavate peat bogs, journey with curlews, wonder at hen harriers, dream about the Morecambe Wintergardens, gaze at the Dark Sky and plumb the depths of the heritage of this famous train line. They will become tea-makers, foragers, scientists, storytellers, ghosts, prophets, horse whisperers, sages and artists. This huge tapestry of sound, this rap, this poetry, will be pinged onto passengers' phones as they travel along The Bentham train Line- making it rich with sight, sound, history and wildlife - a landscape come alive in the ears and eyes of train passengers.
What?
outside it is beautiful is a digital community audio stories artwork project set on the Bentham train line. It aims to encourage anyone who travels on a train to look out of the window, focusing on what they are passing through, as well as where they are going to. It hopes to foster a greater connection between rail passengers, local commuters, landscapes, wildlife and communities.
How?
Participating in free creative workshops, communities along the Bentham train line between Leeds and Morecambe will perform and record stories they have written which are about the landscape and heritage that can be seen out the window. The stories will be curated for an audio work which will ping into passengers' ears via their mobile phones using GPS technology. We aim it to be a living, moving and live immersive audio artwork, a great tapestry of poetry, rap, music and prose.
Why?
We want to encourage more people to use the train as we believe it is a fantastic way to learn more about the nature, heritage and the environment around them through art and the imagination. We also want local communities to experience new stories about the area in a different way, to share these with visitors and to encourage them to think anew about journeying on public transport.
It's not about journey's end, but the journey itself.
The project will make a difference by encouraging a greater sense of responsibility and love for the landscape, deepen communities’ knowledge about where they live, develop their creative excellence and embolden participants and passengers to seek new wildlife, artistic and cultural experiences beyond the project.
Lastly, it's a living legacy and a celebration of the beauty, history and wildlife and landscape that can be seen out of the train window along the Bentham Line - the sights, sounds, textures, people and animals which are often unknown and invisible to the sometimes anonymous traveller who is passing by in minutes... even seconds.
How? Our story...
In October 2024 we completed an exploratory R&D project with groups living along the line. It was supported by Arts Council England NLPGs and Northern Rail's Community Fund and in kind by Northern Rail, Culturapedia/Spot On, the Leeds Morecambe Community Rail Partnership and Settle Stories.
In 2025, with more funding from Norther Rail's Community Fund, we brought more partners and participatory groups from the north west region to join us in the creation of this exciting community audio artwork.
In 2026 we raised a further 10k from Northern Rail's Community Fund, and in kind support from the Forest of Bowland National Landscape, Wild Ingleborough, Nick Awde, and Gerald Townson, Chairman of the Leeds Morecambe Community Rail Partnership.
We are now awaiting a funding outcome for phase 1, for the completion of workshops with groups along the line.
We will fundraise again to complete the group workshops and create the audio artwork for the app in phase 2. for a 2027 launch (tbc).
See here for how the app might sound on the train...
In more detail:
Research & development phase
In October 2024 we activated our research and development phase, working with communities up and down the Bentham line from Morecambe to Leeds. In a week full of imaginative workshops exploring the culture of the rich Yorkshire and Lancashire dialects, the local wildlife and history of The Bentham Line, we met with people living with dementia at Pioneer Projects, young people in schools, vulnerable groups, vulnerable children, women just released from prison, the Kurdish community, the Forest of Bowland National Landscape, the Yorkshire Peat Partnership and the general public. Supported by Arts Council England through its National Lottery Project Grants programme and by Northern (rail) we formed long lasting partnerships, friendships and made the connections to develop more. We had in kind support from Northern and Culturapedia/Spot On and The Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership.
Further development phase - development of our existing partners, collaborators, participants and funding strands
We spent time developing our project funded by Northern Rail's Community Fund. This included trips on the Bentham Line and out reach to different groups who might not usually have access to travel, nature and art. We brought on groups such as Dementia Forward in the Yorkshire Dales, Adullam (a charity working with socially isolated men in Lancashire), the Jewish Welfare Board's learning disabilities group in Leeds, conservationist and women in farming campaigner Sheila Mason and long term train driver on the Bentham Line, Paul Mason and Ribblesdale Fed of Schools in the Yorkshire Dales. We also extended our collaboration with the Forest of Bowland National Landscape and Wild Ingleborough and invited local artists such as Rob St John, Kaajal Modi to work with us, as well as astronomical experts such as Rob Ince. Through Simply Red's drummer Chris Joyce (yes) who now resides in Morecambe, we brought King Sound Studio on board to make us brilliant audio pieces and Sheffield recordist and artist Kitty Turner. We also will work with local composers Shi Bland and Sarah Smout.
Phase one and phase two - the project itself
We are fundraising to complete the project in phases.
The first phase will be the completion of a series of community workshops between Leeds and Morecambe to begin in September (tbc).
We will be working with an exciting, well known, prominent and provocative PR group who love starting conversations about culture within the public realm. When our funding is confirmed, we will announce who they are.
The second phase will be the completion of workshops, editing, performing and recording of the stories for GPS transmission and the public launch of the artwork in 2027.
Please contact us using the form below if you want to find out more.
Thank you!