Virginia Woolf's 1935 comedy Freshwater was set on the Isle of Wight and named after the west Wight village where she spent summers with her family at a young age. This LGBTQ+ storytelling walk on 17 May follows a Freshwater route that connects the real locations with the hidden histories that Woolf's biography and the island's Victorian literary circle provide. The illustrated format draws on archive photographs and document reproductions at specific points on the route.
Freshwater in the 1860s and 70s was a gathering point for Alfred Lord Tennyson, Julia Margaret Cameron, G.F. Watts, and the extended group of artists, writers, and thinkers who formed the Freshwater Circle. Woolf grew up within this world, and the walk traces both the physical landscape of that community and the stories it contained about love, art, identity, and the boundaries of Victorian respectability. The LGBTQ+ framing connects these histories to contemporary community experience.
Booking required; registration via Eventbrite. 17 May, Freshwater. Suitable for adults. More arts and heritage walking events on the Isle of Wight this spring.
