Travel the River Taw, in Devon, through time & landscape with reimagined tales, gossip, poetic thought & transporting sound. Storyteller & poet, Katy Lee, swam, walked and canoed the Taw from source to sea gathering stories and local knowledge. Each episode an ‘expert’ joins Katy, as she learns more the river and the challenges it faces.

Katy’s thoughts and experience are captured in poetic prose accompanied by music and soundscapes from David Smale.

Host and creator, Katy Lee, is joined by Andy Crabb, archaeologist with Dartmoor National Park. Andy explains how the Taw may have come into being and the significance it had for mesolithic people who lived on the moor

People have utilised, harnessed, diverted, partnered with rivers since time immemorial.  Katy visits the National Trust’s Finch Foundry to see the power of water in action.

“To be a good fisherman you’ve got to understand the river, its not about catching fish, its about understanding where the fish are”

Chris, from the Taw Fishing Club accompanied Katy along the stretch of river the club fish. He explained the complexities of riparian ownership, which bank is the left bank, how much of the river bed the landowner owns and of course what makes a good fishermen!

Farmers are often blamed for being the main polluters of our rivers, but are they? Katy met with Emma a third generation farmer to learn how her family have been managing their farm, that borders the Taw, since the 1950’s

The best way to enjoy and access the river Taw is to canoe or kayak it. Katy is joined by keen and experienced canoeist and kayaker, Pete from Bideford Canoe Club. Pete, explains the different grades a river is given and how to read the river to navigate your way around obstacles. Pete, also ‘paddle-holds’ Katy as she canoes down the river. But the river Taw she is canoeing seems to be very different to the one Pete is!

Barnstaple, was once a bustling port. But not any more, the boat building, salmon netting, sand barges, pleasure boats all gone. Katy went to Barnstaple library to meet Ken Passmore, Julie Drayton and Mick Chappell, to talk about the sand bargemen, many of whom were their relatives. Both Ken and Julies’ fathers were bargemen.

For this final episode Katy is  joined by Anne whose family has lived near the Taw / Torridge estuary for generations and Anna a recent arrival from Ukraine – but for both the Taw is a connection with home. Katy reflects on the glossed over past of the river as she canoes the last stretch of the river.