Changing Spaces – Through The Lens, is where I explore campervan travel, heritage journeys, psychology, spirituality, and the freedom to create new stories at midlife. From 30-day transformation programs to travel reflections, this channel is about how changing spaces changes lives. A new series my on-the-road exploration of how places hold memory.

I travel by campervan, sometimes staying in nice cottages, hotels and caravans , and film what I see, and reflect on the conversations I have and explore the layers beneath the landscape—such as the local industry, migration, uprisings, class, and the quieter stories written into stone, coastlines, and communitie. sIn this Epic Wales episode, I explore the “geometry of control”—how power has shaped land, people, and the energy of place. From Carmarthen Castle (built under Henry I in 1105) to the Chartist story in Newport, I trace lines from feudal serfdom to industrial protest, and follow the thread across oceans to Australia—from convict transportation (1788–1868) to settlement and the Stolen Generations.We touch on:Serfs & manors: bound to land through service and dues (not enslaved—but not free).Carmarthen Castle: a Norman fortress of symbolic and physical control.Newport Rising (1839): Chartists demanding political rights—soldiers fired on protestors at the Westgate Hotel.Transportation to Australia: c. 160,000 people sent to NSW, Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Western Australia, Norfolk Island; later waves of free settlers under terra nullius.Stolen Generations: children removed by state/church authorities; language and identity suppressed.Language & hierarchy: how words have been used to categorise, control, and erase—especially around mixed identities.If you love thoughtful travel, social history, and noticing how certain towns feel “light” or “heavy,” this is for you.Writers/researchers referenced or relevant:

E.P. Thompson; Dorothy Thompson & Malcolm Chase (Chartists);

Rees Davies/John Davies (Wales); Catherine Hall & the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership project;

David Olusoga (Black and British); Clare Anderson (convict transportation);

Margaret Humphreys (Empty Cradles);

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (The Colour of Love, Mixed Feelings).

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 I’m Melanie Gabbi. I’ve spent over fourdecades exploring the landscape of spirituality, mental health, personaldevelopment, and transformation. I’m a therapist, mental health consultant,yogi, NLP practitioner, and Reiki master. I’ve studied Western psychology,Eastern philosophy, esoteric wisdom, and everything in between. And mostimportantly—I’ve lived through this journey myself. Like many of you, I’venavigated burnout, trauma, doubt, deep healing, and moments of profoundclarity. I know what it means to question everything and still want to believein something more.