Livability Holton Lee is a wellbeing discovery centre set in 350 aces of beautiful countryside. We create opportunities that make it all add up for people; this could be: physical, mental, spiritual and social – we believe that with the right connections people flourish, which benefits the whole community.
Heritage Lottery funding has recently enabled people on our Flourish eco-therapy project to learn new skills like interviewing and how to make short documentary films.
To practice the skills they learnt, Flourish members interviewed 20 people who each had unique information about Holton Lee’s history; they captured these conversations in a series of short films.
The fascinating stories they uncovered are about many different people and their communities who have lived or worked in this beautiful place over the past 1000 years. They also found out about relationships with the land around us and with each other, and how Holton Lee remains ‘a magical place’ for everyone who comes here.
A timeline of Holton Lee
About the Oral Histories project
Livability Holton Lee bring you this Oral Histories project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which culminates in a mini exhibition in June. You can see it at Wareham Town Hall on Saturday the 15th June 9am-1pm and at Livability Holton Lee’s community fair from 11am-4pm on the 14th September.
The project is brought to life by Flourish participants who have been trained to interview and film stories to illustrate the site’s heritage on ipads. The project has spoken to historians, archaeologists, members of the Lees family and the Post Green Community.
Flourish is an Ecotheraphy project based at Livability Holton Lee.
The videos the following pages each reflect an era of Holton Lee’s history. Navigate through the eras to learn more about what many refer to as a ‘magical place’. You can find more by visiting the exhibition.
Why Holton Lee?
Archaeological digs in 2000 and 2011 show that the site has been active farmland since Saxon times and is identified in the 1086 Domesday Book as being assigned to a Norman Lord.
The project seeks to capture the stories of the people that came together and transformed the site from farmland to the therapeutic wellbeing centre it is today.
The exhibition will be on display at Livability Holton Lee’s 350 acre nature reserve in Dorset.
Click here to read an introduction to our heritage
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