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An evening of poetry and music with Michael Murpurgo to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Farms for City Children.
Leigh Curtis
Exeter Cathedral is hosting My Heart Was a Tree on Tuesday 27 January, an evening of poetry and music celebrating the natural world to mark the 50th anniversary of Farms for City Children.
Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare Morpurgo will be joined by Carol Hughes, widow of Ted Hughes, the late Poet Laureate.
They will read from Michael Morpurgo’s poetry and story collection My Heart Was a Tree as well as My Own True Family, the poem by Ted Hughes which inspired the collection’s title.
The readings will be accompanied by music composed by Vivaldi, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Haydn and Max Richter, performed by the Iddlesleigh String Quartet.
Michael Morpurgo is an English author, poet and playwright. He has written over 100 books including Private Peaceful, The Butterfly Lion and Kensuke’s Kingdom.
Morpurgo, who has lived in Devon for many years, was the third Children’s Laureate from 2003 to 2005 and is the president of BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity.
He and his wife Clare established Farms for City Children in 1976, a charity which enables children from disadvantaged communities to experience a stay at one of three farms, including founding farm Nethercott House, which is near Exeter.
My Heart Was a Tree takes place at 7pm on Tuesday 27 January 2026 at Exeter Cathedral.
Tickets cost from £15 for adults and £5 for under-18s, plus booking fees, and can be bought via the TicketSource website.
For more information about the event visit the Exeter Cathedral website.
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