A HILL overlooking Swindon seemed like the perfect place to pay tribute to the words of two of the town's most famous writers.

Around 30 followers of the writings of Alfred Williams and Richard Jefferies met to share their thoughts at a giant sarsen memorial stone near Barbury Castle.

Visitors from as far away as Surrey and even one from Germany came by to enjoy the readings of poetry or excerpts of books.

The words of Jefferies were particularly poignant as much of his work is based upon what he saw on his travels around the Swindon.

Readers described him as way ahead of his time as a writer, while others just admired the way he described the processes of nature.

Others used the words being read to inspire their own poetry one of them, local poet Tony Hillier dubbed the event as a "breeze of words."

Matt Holland, festival organiser, said: "This is just another festival event that is completely different from usual events which would traditionally take place in a grand hall with glasses of wine and bow ties and we are commemorating two famous Swindon writers as well."

Other festival events yesterday included a Brunel 200 event, called Swindon Decoded, which featured stories of Swindon's past, present and future by Wiltshire historian John Chandler.

Former MP Matthew Parris also spoke at the Art Centre about his book, A Castle in Spain, as well as his autobiography Chance Witness: an Outsider's Life in Politics.