Books on The Countryside and Country Life

In exquisite prose, John Lewis-Stempel records the passage of the seasons from cowslips in spring to the hay-cutting of summer and grazing in autumn, and includes the biographies of the animals that inhabit the grass and the soil beneath: the badger clan, the fox family, the rabbit warren,the skylark brood and the curlew pair, among others.

5 stars

Roger Evans faces each day on his dairy farm in Shropshire with a wonderful mixture of dry humour, sharp observation and a delight in the natural world and the animals around him.This latest book of his popular diary entries takes his fans through the weeks of the past two years and covers his beloved farm dogs, his cattle, his friends at the pub. He struggles through all weather, survives the...

The phenomenal bestseller - 100,000+ copies - Everything you wanted to know about chopping, stacking and drying wood.

5 stars

It is difficult to think of a more quintessential symbol of the British countryside than the British Hedgerow, bursting with blackberries, hazelnuts and sloes, and home to oak and ash, field mice and butterflies. But as much as we might dream about foraging for mushrooms or collecting wayside nettles for soup, most of us are unaware of quite how profoundly hedgerows have shaped the history of our...

The ideal portable companion, the world-renowned Collins Gem series returns with a fresh new look and updated material.

The author spent five years spent alone in a hillside cottage in Wales. He immersed himself in the rugged British landscape, exploring nature's unspoilt wilderness and man's relationship with it. It is the story of what it means to live in a place so remote that you may not see another soul for weeks on end.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA fascinating and hilarious glimpse into Paul's life at home in the country with his animalsPaul O'Grady's Country Life for the first time gives a glimpse into the home life of one of Britain's best loved stars, alongside the animals he adores.

This winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1975, and listed by the New York Times as one of the best 100 non-fiction books of the century, gives timeless reflections on solitude, writing and faith amid the beautiful though sometimes brutal world of nature on the author's doorstep in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.

For the last six years of his life, Roger Deakin kept notebooks in which he wrote his daily thoughts, impressions, feelings and observations about and around his home, Walnut Tree Farm. This title collects his writings, capturing his restless curiosity about nature and his impressions of our changing world.

Regular hive inspection and the removal of old combs helps to keep bees healthier and naturally disease-free.Top-Bar Beekeeping provides complete information on hive management and other aspects of using these innovative hives.

Sheep have to be one of the most versatile livestock animals on the planet. All-in-one grazing and fertilising machines, they provide meat and milk for our tables, wool for clothing, carpets, and insulation, skins for leather and rugs, and a whole host of other products....

City Quitters portrays a wave of creative professionals that pioneer alternative ways of living and working away from big cities. The book uncovers how rural living influences them, changes aspirations and drives the emergence of a new aesthetic.

In January 2006, a month or two after my father died, I thought I saw him again - a momentary impression of an old man, a little stooped, setting off for a walk in his characteristic fawn corduroys and shabby quilted jacket.

A pioneering look at how climate change is affecting British wildlife--winners, losers, new arrivals and future prospects.

Writer Ed Douglas and photographer John Beatty are close friends and have a shared history with Kinder going back decades. In Kinder Scout: The People's Mountain they reveal the social, political, cultural and ecological developments that have shaped the physical and human landscape of this enigmatic and treasured hill.

Chris Yates, one of Britain's most insightful and lyrical writers, raises his gaze from his beloved rivers and ponds and takes us on a mesmerizing tour of the British countryside.

Words are grained into our landscapes, and landscapes are grained into our words. Landmarks is about the power of language to shape our sense of place. This is a guide to literature of nature, and a glossary containing thousands of remarkable words used in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to describe land, nature and weather.

From antique shop windows and farm stand displays to rustic table settings, lovingly tended gardens, and covered bridges, these 31 richly detailed illustrations celebrate the timeless charm of rural life.