Peter Martin’s poetry features an area of the South Downs and coastline within ten or so miles of Seaford – a small seaside town in East Sussex. It is an area containing some of the most beautiful landscapes of the South Downs National Park with river valleys, coastal cliffs, seashore, woodland, farmland and rolling downland, creating a varied and inspiring natural history. It is also rich in social history with considerable evidence in the landscape, in buildings and in historical records. Within this rich mosaic are the iconic white cliffs of the Seven Sisters, the ancient human effigy of the Long Man of Wilmington, and the lost village of Exceat.
The poems celebrate this stunning mosaic of natural beauty with colours, scents and atmospheres that change with the seasons, the weather and time of day; they also tell stories of the people and places where they lived. Whatever the focus, the poems go beyond the descriptive and explore how the imagination and inner landscape of the emotions are stirred.
There are four books, all beautifully illustrated by Sussex artists: ‘Ghost Music’ by the late H.H Evans; ‘Kindred Spaces’ by Sarah Gregson; ‘Story Lines’ by Charlotte Matthews; ‘Flight Feathers’ by Robert Greenhalf, who is one of the UK’s leading wildlife artists.
If you love the countryside, sea, wildlife or history these books will appeal to you, wherever you live.