Ploughed-Up

More people pass through Northumberland on the East Coast Mainline railway than ever visit as tourists. ‘Ploughed-up’ was a pilot piece for ‘Landlines’ - a proposed piece that looked at the idea of ‘passive tourism’. How can passengers on the train have a tourist experience?

‘Landlines’ proposed a programme of temporary interventions alongside the railway between Alnmouth and Berwick - a distance of 35 miles. The interventions would be created with the farmers to highlight the diversity of agriculture along that stretch of line and recognise farmers as the designers of landscape. The programme would run for a full year to show the agricultural calendar and plot the change in landscape over 12 months. The programme would be accompanied by a bespoke menu onboard trains between Edinburgh and Newcastle using ingredients solely from producers along the line, completing the field to place journey for passengers.

The pilot piece of ‘Ploughed-up’ was a 120 x 120m pattern ploughed into the field near Beal. The piece was devised in collaboration with the ploughman exploiting his process and skill.