Bath Spa’s brand new centre for environmental humanities held its kick-off workshop in the Old Barn on Kelston Roundhill yesterday. Led by Prof Kate Rigby, it’s the first such centre in the UK.

They’re a distinguished and diverse group of academics: geographers, writers, philosophers, poets, educators and more. Some people shared a keen sense of loss of long-associated landscapes – a depopulated island, an eroded coastline, a compulsorily developed farm.

They’re fun to hang out with: they’re interested in everything – reptiles, politics, capitalism, planning, theology – they take photos, like good food and bake cakes. We sat around on pallets, talked a lot, walked up the hill, warmed food on the wood-burner. At midday the group invited in Graham Padfield, founder of the Bath Soft Cheese company who provided delicious cheese for lunch.

Graham Padfield tells the assembled academics about the laborious tasks involved in running a dairy farm.