ENCLOSURES
Leith Hill Place Arts & Heritage Programme 2026
Childhood home of one of England’s greatest composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, Leith Hill Place (LHP) is a place of creativity and inspiration. Managed by the National Trust, LHP is a growing cultural hub set within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The ENCLOSURES programme sets out to further establish LHP as a dynamic site for heritage arts practice that deepens our connection with the landscape. It builds upon LHP’s arts programme which has already developed strong regional partnerships including Surrey Cultural Partnership, Surrey Hills National Landscape, the University of the Creative Arts and University of Surrey.
Through the ENCLOSURES programme, LHP will actively engage local communities, while seeking to reach wider audiences through innovative programming.
Landmarks - Spoken Word Video: developed through interviews with local residents about their relationship to the landscape
Creative Partners
Rosie May Jones (Lead Creative)
Rosie May Jones is multidisciplinary artist and poet, specialising in spoken word & place-responsive performance. Her work explores how narratives of place shape our sense of self and community. She has delivered creative projects for organisations including the National Trust, Sky Arts, the British Council and Natural England, and she is currently a PhD student studying Animist Landscapes for Co-creative Practice.
Engaging communities and co-creation are central to her work. Much of her poetry is developed through verbatim techniques, working directly from recorded conversations conducted during her research. She is also a passionate workshop facilitator, with experience in creating poetry workshops which engage people in landscape, place and more-than-human perspectives.
“I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you for your wonderful poem and performance at the launch of the NNR... Your words truly captured the spirit of the landscape and the occasion—moving, evocative, and beautifully delivered.”
Catherine McCusker (Producer)
Catherine McCusker, Visitor Operations & Experiences Manager at LHP, brings extensive cultural programming experience and essential community networks. She has extensive experience running a learning and events department working with the widest age group from toddlers to teens and adults in the Surrey Hills. As a a qualified forest bathing guide and a Mental Health First Aid Trainer she is passionate about nature's power to heal and restore. She facilitates nature connection outreach projects including the impactful Rest and Digest Retreat with East Surrey Domestic Abuse Service.
Damn Cheek Productions (Community Development & Facilitation)
With a passion for accessibility and inclusivity, Damn Cheek Productions has been creating bold, community led theatre since 2013. They champion new writing that tackles difficult and nuanced issues head-on, always seeking to provoke, entertain and inspire through compelling performances. Their work reaches diverse audiences across unconventional spaces – from community centres, libraries, parks and pubs to theatres and festivals. Central to their practice is involving communities as central collaborators, building skills for everyone involved through co-creation projects and comprehensive workshops and training programmes.
Maya McCourt (Music Director)
Music Leader at English Folk Dance and Song Society, Maya McCourt specialises in engaging young people with traditional British music and building communities of young traditional musicians. Director at Flotsam Sessions, facilitating intercultural community through folk music. Graduate of University of Edinburgh with Masters in Music in Development from SOAS. Her expertise in folk music and community engagement makes her ideally suited to lead the musical elements of this RVW pageant revival and develop partnerships with local youth choirs and village bands, as well as introducing diverse musical influences that update and reflect contemporary society.
Jack Kingslake (Electronic Music Ensemble Facilitator)
As Contemporary Music Lead for Surrey Hills Arts, Jack Kingslake will work with young people in Surrey to develop an Electric Music Ensemble. This ensemble will develop electronic music elements that complement and contrast with Ralph Vaughan Williams' orchestral compositions and traditional folk music, creating a multi-layered soundscape that speaks to intergenerational experiences of land, community, and change. Jack is a multi instrumentalist, contemporary music producer, composer and sound designer with over 25 years experience in the industry, including teaching music production at every level and delivering workshops in a huge range of community settings.
THE PROGRAMME
England’s Pleasant Land - Community Pageant: A reimagining of Ralph Vaughan Williams and E.M. Forster's 1938 community pageant "England's Pleasant Land" at Leith Hill Place. Over 100 local participants from drama societies, choirs, and bands explore how land enclosure transformed Surrey's landscape—connecting historical displacement to contemporary issues such as housing, environmental challenges and access to nature. Combining this historical text and Ralph Vaughan Williams's original score with contemporary spoken word poetry and an electronic music ensemble, this production asks: what does folk music look like today? How do we reimagine English identity for multicultural Britain?
Alongside a three-month season exploring land, enclosure, and community connection through:
Exhibitions & Events: exploring Surrey's land enclosure history, exploring how the transformation of common land shaped communities, culture, and access to nature through both historical research and contemporary voices.
Participatory Workshops: Including "Roots & Rhymes" (forest bathing & poetry for domestic abuse survivors) and extensive pageant development workshops
Oral History Project: Creating accessible audio tours and online resources from community voices
Ralph Vaughan Williams Heritage Walk Guided walk through the landscape where RVW collected folk songs, featuring live music in the landscape & concluding with a folk session at a local pub.
TEA TIME TALKS PROGRAMME
TALK 1: Witch with India Rakusen - Creator of BBC's 13-part documentary series exploring how the witch became a symbol of resistance and fear, examining witch hunts' connection to historic land enclosure.
TALK 2: Land, Loss and Madness with Julian Pooley - The hidden connection between land enclosure and mental health, and the link between land dispossession and the development of county asylums.
TALK 3: Folk Music Has Lost Its Way with Jennifer Reid - focusing on 19th century Lancashire dialect & Victorian broadside ballads, ballad singer Jennifer Reid shares the tradition of working-class music as provocation.
TALK 4: Local History and Community Voices - Oral history participants share their stories exploring connections between land, community, and belonging.
Regional Impact
“Despite its reputation for affluence and privilege, there are areas of deprivation, marginalisation, disenfranchisement, and disconnection across the whole of Surrey.”
This project tests arts and heritage methodologies that address the social challenges hidden behind Surrey's prosperous facade. By working with rural populations facing barriers to cultural participation including domestic abuse survivors, disabled communities and isolated elderly residents, we're developing inclusive approaches in partnership with the National Trust, Surrey Hills National Landscape, and regional cultural organisations—building evidence for how heritage sites can effectively serve marginalised communities.
The Local Context
Social Isolation in Rural Communities
In Mole Valley, 69% of those who reported needing support with social isolation or loneliness during the pandemic did not receive it. Mole Valley is projected to have one of the highest numbers of residents aged 65-84 by 2038—a demographic particularly vulnerable to isolation. This project brings innovative, socially engaged programming to a rural area through multiple formats—including portable performances for care homes —enriching the cultural life of communities that face geographic and age-related barriers to participation.
Race, Class and Access to Heritage
The pageant title "England's Pleasant Land" references a phrase historically used to reinforce exclusionary ideas of "authentic" English identity centered on whiteness and rural landscapes. Our reimagining explicitly challenges this narrative. Working with Musical Director Maya McCourt, who specializes in reimagining folk traditions for multicultural Britain, we're asking: what does folk music look like today? The Electronic Music Ensemble brings diverse musicians into the project, while our advisory board approach ensures we're developing genuinely inclusive methodologies rather than extractive outreach to communities who have historically been excluded from heritage narratives.
Housing Insecurity Behind the Affluence
Housing affordability ratios in Surrey range from 10.4 to 16.1 times the median salary, with median property prices of £508,000. Repossession actions increased by 19% in 2024. By connecting historical land enclosure to contemporary housing crisis, the project makes urgent issues personally and historically resonant.
Domestic Violence and Community Connection
In 2024, local domestic violence services received 18,000 calls and 2,500 referrals. Our partnership with East Surrey Domestic Abuse Services creates safe, unique cultural experiences that foster community connection and provide pathways to landscape engagement for survivors.
Systemic Barriers to Cultural Participation
61,835 Surrey residents have significantly limited daily activities due to disability. Research shows disabled people are less likely to attend arts and heritage venues, with cost, transport, and relevance identified as key barriers. Our advisory board approach, working with DAISY (Disability Arts in Surrey), ensures disabled voices shape the project while helping us understand and address barriers different communities face.
The Funding Context
According to the Surrey Cultural Partnership's "Surprising Surrey" strategy (2024-2034), Surrey receives the lowest Arts Council England investment per capita (£6.22) compared to neighboring counties—only 6 National Portfolio Organisations versus 21 in Kent, 28 in Sussex, 23 in Hampshire. This makes developing and evidencing innovative approaches to inclusive heritage practice particularly vital for the region.
Strategic Coordination
This project sits at the intersection of major regional priorities: National Trust's commitment to increasing nature access for all; Surrey Hills National Landscape's development of inclusive place-making approaches; and Surrey Cultural Partnership Strategy's call for culture to "support our towns and villages in developing a sense of place."
By testing these methodologies at Leith Hill Place with diverse partners, we're generating replicable models and evaluation frameworks that can inform broader regional cultural infrastructure and demonstrate effective approaches to inclusive heritage practice.