Wild goats perched on precarious crags that make up the impressive and imposing Valley of the Rocks on the northern edge of Exmoor National Park watch as their habitat becomes a film set for the day. Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs are sharing a scene, crew rush back and forth between takes as scripts are passed around and cameras reset – all the drama that comes with moviemaking even if the main action of this scene is the making of a cup of tea.
It’s an adaptation of bestselling book The Salt Path. Written by Raynor Winn, it recounts the epic trek she and her husband Moth took after they were made homeless and faced an unimaginably bleak future. Today the couple are visiting the set, along with Big Issue. “It’s so surreal, Alice in Wonderland territory,” Raynor says as she watches her life being recreated for cameras. It’s the latest chapter in an unexpected journey that began long before.
The book became a publishing phenomenon and is a story loved by millions – but if you’re a longtime Big Issue buyer you’d have read it here first. In this week’s Big Issue, read the inside story of The Salt Path.
What else is in this week’s Big Issue?
Chris Packham reflects on 20 years of Springwatch
“After the first few days of tense … the mood in the Springwatch camp settles into that of a joyful festival of wildlife,” Chris Packham writes. “It’s like the Glastonbury of natural history TV. We have tents, we have a main stage, we have decent plant-based food, we are powered by green energy and occasionally we have mud. But our toilets are always much, much better!
Big Issue heads to Cardiff
Wales was the obvious choice for our second Big Community Roadshow. As well as smart, progressive thinking that has the ear of legislators in Cardiff Bay, there is also a huge swell of community and grassroots work that can be learned from. From the Senedd to Cardiff’s student accommodation blocks, our reporters went all over to find out Cardiff’s stories.
Ed Davey’s letter to my younger self
The Liberal Democrat leader’s experiences as a family carer have shaped his life and politics. He’s thrown a few good parties too.
