The Nature Cure has been having a revival in recent years. Doctors are now recommending wild swimming and ‘forest bathing’ to help us cope with stress and anxiety. Schools are taking classrooms out of doors. Mental health charities advise us to ‘get our daily dose of nature’ and to find ways to ‘switch off’ in parks and nature reserves. Where did these ideas come from, and why are they gaining so much attention now? A talk examining the origins and implications of the idea that nature can heal us.

Dr Samantha Walton, Reader in Modern Literature at Bath Spa University