大象传媒

John McCarthy explores the sense of timeless wonder that we can experience in childhood. Unravelling Dylan Thomas's poem Fern Hill, where delight and joy run carefree alongside the poignant tension of time's relentless force, John asks if these temporary moments of grace are mere fleeting illusion or whether they have a deeper significance.

Is a sense of being immersed in one's surroundings the preserve of a child growing up in a rural idyll, or can city children experience this too?

John joins the former Children's Laureate and author of War Horse and Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo, in Devon where he runs Farms for City Children. He shares his insights into what moments of escape from time can give children and how they can sustain us for the rest of our lives.

And Camila Batmanghelidjh, psychotherapist and founder of Kids Company (an organisation that provides support to vulnerable children and young people), reveals the emotional and environmental conditions that allow children's imaginations to flourish - where a state of 'merger' becomes 'the start of spiritual life'.

Readings range from Ted Hughes to Raymond Carver, and Arthur Ransome to Arundhati Roy. Music includes excerpts from Debussy, Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita, and Yann Tiersen.

Picture credit: Nick Hedges

Readers: Guy Masterson and Chetna Pandya

Produced by Ruth Abrahams

A Whistledown Production for 大象传媒 Radio 4.