Thinking about One Tree Hill, where I made this short video Sunflower and spent a lot of time walking in winter 2024.

One Tree Hill is simultaneously a place of natural beauty and a historic site of warfare. Part of the ancient Great North Wood which once covered much of South East London, One Tree Hill was a strategic position during the First World War. The gun platform at the top of the hill was once used to raid Zeppelins.

During my visits to the summit of the hill, there was often a heavy sense of atmosphere which lingered. Traces of human presence were scattered around the gun platform, a strange landmark and site of local historic importance.

I'm certain some secondary school myths circulate this place. Of ghosts of monarchs lurking in the surrounding woodland and devil-worshippers who gather at night. A beacon which stands at the top of the hill bares the marks of an occultist, and upon many visits there, I would find remnants of charcoal in the centre of the gun platform from the previous night's fire. This one time there were flowers laid in a circle around it, and it looked like a huge sun with flowers bursting into rays of light.

So often it felt cold and stark upon that hill, I would walk in circles around the gun platform, trying to summon some kind of inner strength, it was the lowest point of my life so far.