Northey Island by Justin Minns.

Dear Jeff,

Paul from Ultramarine gave me your email address, as we wondered if you might be interested in Caught by the River featuring a forthcoming Ultramarine appearance?

Northey Island is a wonderful, wild location, located in the Blackwater estuary off Maldon, Essex. The island is a National Trust property, though it is leased to private tenants for most of the year. However, the National Trust takes back the island every year for a full weekend, during which we open it up for a wild camping weekend experience, called Castaway.

This year Castaway runs from 3 – 5 July. Tickets are inevitably limited due to the size of the island, and they are going fast. This year, which is the third year we have run the event, we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the National Trust’s Neptune campaign, which has raised millions of pounds to save threatened coastlines.

Music is an important aspect of the Castaway weekend. This year, we are delighted that Paul and Ian from Ultramarine will be joining us on the Friday night to perform a set. Northey Island will be the perfect backdrop in which to hear Ultramarine’s music. Their last release, This Time Last Year (2013) has a track inspired by the Blackwater landscape (‘Decoy Point’). For Castaway, Paul and Ian promise us a new piece of music which they have composed specially for the occasion, using sounds recorded on Northey Island itself over the last few weeks.

I have been a fan of Ultramarine ever since United Kingdoms, though it was only through Caught by the River that I realised they were back recording music, and also that they had such close links to the Blackwater estuary (through your feature on Ian’s Survey East site). So, thank you for making this connection for me, and I hope you might consider featuring our Castaway weekend and Ultramarine’s involvement on the Friday night?

There’s plenty else happening over the weekend, find out more here.

Best wishes

Ben Cowell
National Trust