Summer Reading ~ Ten Poems from the Peak District from Candlestick Press

 

Candlestick Press 
July 2025

Myhthanks to the publisher for my copy of this poetry pamphlet 

This mini anthology belongs to Candlestick’s popular series of UK regional titles, and features poems that capture the vivid landscapes and atmospheres of the Dark and White Peaks.

There’s a celebration of the very particular Derbyshire tradition of well dressing, alongside poems that take us up onto the high moors and down into the tunnels under Ladybower Reservoir.

At an iconic Dark Peak landmark, we encounter a raw landscape that tricks the mind into altered perceptions:

“It is endless, a stranded reef
which seeps and surges indefinitely.
Paths slip under streams; pools hover;
stones become sheep become stones.”

from ‘Kinder Downfall, 24 April 1932’ by Rob Hindle

The selection is proof (if needed) that the Peak District is equal to the Lake District in its power to fire the imaginations of poets who live in it – or who simply love it for its wild beauty.

Katharine Towers is a poet who lives in the White Peak.

Poems by Rob Hindle, Helen Mort, Alistair Noon, Mark Pajak, Peter Riley, Anna Seward, Katharine Towers, Tony Williams, River Wolton and Warda Yassin.

Cover illustration by Ian Parkinson 

 My Review..

The Peak District covers some 550 square miles and as the crow flies is about 36 miles from my house and yet it is a place I have visited infrequently but after reading this lovely anthology of poems I feel it is something I should rectify before too long. 

There are verses for all tastes in this group of ten poems, all of which conjure the many moods of this National Park and the importance of our connection to these wild spaces. 

 

Eid at Ladybower by Warda Yassin

We’d traverse along the Ladybower wall, me saying

it’s a giant Y-shaped bath. Abo laughing and teaching me about 

the plug holes at the bottom, and how water is carried…”

The simple pleasure of searching for wild flora in:

Looking for leek-coloured hawkweed at Moss Rake by Katharine Towers

“ Before long we were in our hands and knees in the white grit,

Poking our fingers into clumps of wild thyme and eyebright

And sandwort (or leadwort ) which may have been a form of saxifrage,

Although none of these were what we had come to find..”

I have really enjoyed exploring the Peak District in the company of these ten fine poets. Each bring something special and have captured the beauty of the place in such a way that I have now a yearning to see some of the places for myself. With it’s evocative cover and fascinating end papers Ten Poems from the Peak District is a perfect gift instead of a card for anyone who calls this beautiful place home or for those who love open spaces, big skies and hidden crags.

About the Publisher 

Candlestick Press is a small, independent press publishing sumptuously produced poetry pamphlets that serve as a wonderful alternative to a greetings card, with matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message. Their subjects include Mountains, Clouds, Walking, Birds, Wine and Happiness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.

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