THE stark, soggy landscape of Otmoor has enchanted and intrigued generations of Oxfordshire folk.

In this manicured county it is the closest we get to wilderness, more reminiscent of the fens of East Anglia than rolling Oxfordshire.

Of course, it has long since ceased to be truly wild, with the present scene being the product of intense human involvement - first to drain and ‘improve’ the ground for farming, and more latterly, to return the wetlands to a wildlife haven. Nonetheless, the roughly 400 acres of marsh, water and grassland between Oxford and Bicester, continues to enthuse nature lovers and inspire artists.

Among the latter is Andrew Walton, who knows the area better than anyone, hailing from tiny Noke, one of the traditional ‘seven towns’ of Otmoor – along with Beckley, Oddington, Charlton-on-Otmoor, Fencott, Murcott and Horton-cum-Studley – which surround it. He refers to his home landscape as “a place apart”. And an exhibition based on his work, Otmoor: Moonlight and Myths, opens today at Art Jericho, in King Street, Oxford.

“My parents moved to Noke when they married in the early 1940s,” says Andrew. “We lived in a tiny cottage totally lacking modern amenities – no electricity, water from the well and an earth loo in The Elm Barn, a shed with a grand name, all set in a third of an acre of orchard.

“An artist’s retreat from the hurly burly of war torn London, this was my world: apple trees to climb, a stream to splash in, a duck pond beyond the gate where my brother and I launched catamaran boats whittled from elder sticks.

“The village was a place apart – a road petering out on the edge of the moor, smelling of cows and cow parsley, deep ditches fringed by pollarded willows, and a huge sky. This is the place my life started.”

He has spent the past two years retracing the moor of his childhood years, with this exhibition being the result. It is accompanied by poems by his “walking friend” David Attwooll.

Curator Jenny Blyth is a fan of Otmoor’s mysterious topography and of Andrew’s artistic response. She says: “It is a wild and quiet refuge, a nature reserve with wooden walkways that ensure an uninterrupted haven for the rhythms of nature that play out under high skies – the breath of murmurations overhead and haunting calls of water birds.

“This landscape of myth and wildness has been the impetus for Andrew’s paintings and David’s poems. This painter and poet have created work that explores and celebrates an ancient landscape.

“Walton’s work is playful. He is completely fluent in different styles of painting that he selects to achieve his goal. He is master of paring down, so although at home with a classically contemporary, figurative rendition of views across the moor in oil on board, he shifts seemlessly to an abstracted translation at whim, celebrating the broad stretch of a generous horizon and the rustle of wind in reeds, in no more than a few lines on flat fields of colour; minimalist paintings in oil on canvas.

“Walton’s portfolio of Otmoor is a treasure trove. Capturing the ever-changing beauty of the moor, he pitches us from daylight to dusk in oils and watercolour, and across moonlit reeds hatched onto paper.

“He is as strong in monochrome as in high colour, articulate in abstraction as in figuration, a truly gifted and inquisitive artist with his heart immersed in landscape.”

It is hoped the two men’s work will fuel the desire to protect this special place.

Jenny says: “I have my heart in landscape and the natural world and like so many I feel anxious at the ever increasing threat to the natural world. This exhibition highlights the beauty of Otmoor, and the importance of preserving this uniquely wild and natural habitat for wildlife and the environment at large.”

The two men have also published a book titled simply Otmoor that features David’s poems and Andrew’s paintings, available from the gallery during the exhibition which runs from April 21 to - May 29.

There will be a reading of poems from the book by David and Andrew at the gallery, on a date to be announced.

Jenny Blyth Fine Art at Art Jericho

6 King Street Oxford

artjericho.com