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The Wildlife Garden
John Lewis-Stempel
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R481
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_________________ 'BRITAIN'S FINEST LIVING NATURE WRITER' - THE
TIMES WINNER OF THE THWAITES WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2015 What really goes
on in the long grass? Meadowland gives an unique and intimate
account of an English meadow's life from January to December,
together with its biography. 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. Their births,
lives, and deaths are stories that thread through the book from
first page to last.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Lewis-Stempel is one of our finest
nature writers ... He writes with delicate observation and
authority, giving us in Woodston a book teeming with fascinating
details, anecdotes and penetrating insights into the real cost of
our denatured countryside.' - Sunday Times 'The English countryside
is 'a work of human art, done by the many and the nameless' and
John Lewis-Stempel wanted to celebrate it. He has succeeded
admirably.' - Daily Mail _________________ In the beginning was the
earth... From the Paleozoic volcanoes that stained its soil, to the
Saxons who occupied it, to the Tudors who traded its wool, to the
Land Girls of wartime, John Lewis-Stempel charts a sweeping,
lyrical history of Woodston: the quintessential English farm. With
his combined skills of farmer and historian, Lewis-Stempel digs
deep into written records, the memories of relatives, and the
landscape itself to celebrate the farmland his family have been
bound to for millennia. Through Woodston's life, we feel the joyful
arrival of oxen ploughing; we see pigs rootling in the medieval
apple orchard; and take in the sharp, drowsy fragrance of hops on
Edwardian air. He draws upon his wealth of historical knowledge and
his innate sense of place to create a passionate, fascinating
biography of farming in England. Woodston not only reminds us of
the rural riches buried beneath our feet but of our shared roots
that tie us to the land.
'It reminded me all over again of why I threw up everything for the
magic of La Belle France' Carol Drinkwater, author of The Olive
Farm 'Warm and vivid and beautiful' Trevor Dolby, author of One,
Place de l'Eglise 'An utterly beguiling immersion in La France
Profonde, keenly observed and beautifully told' Felicity Cloake,
author of One More Croissant for the Road The Charente: roofs of
red terracotta tiles, bleached-white walls, windows shuttered
against the blaring sun. The baker does his rounds in his battered
little white van with a hundred warm baguettes in the back, while a
cat picks its way past a Romanesque church, the sound of bells
skipping across miles of rolling, glorious countryside. For many
years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned once again to
live in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing,
as they did almost everywhere in his childhood. He wanted to be
self-sufficient, to make his own wine and learn the secrets of
truffle farming. And so, buying an old honey-coloured limestone
house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new
life as peasant farmers. Over that first year, Lewis-Stempel fell
in love with the French countryside, from the wild boar that trot
past the kitchen window to the glow-worms and citronella candles
that flicker in the evening garden. Although it began as a
practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart: of
learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours
for lunch; in short, living the good life - or as the French say,
La Vie.
'An important book on several levels... Read a few sentences out
loud, wherever you are.' Rosamund Young Everybody thinks they know
what sheep are like: they're stupid, noisy, cowardly ('lambs to the
slaughter'), and they're 'sheepwrecking' the environment. Or maybe
not. Contrary to popular prejudice, sheep are among the smartest
animals in the farmyard, fiercely loyal, forming long and lasting
friendships. Sheep, farmed properly, are boons to biodiversity.
They also happen to taste good and their fleeces warm us through
the winter - indeed, John Lewis-Stempel's family supplied the wool
for Queen Elizabeth's 'hose'. Observing the traditional shepherd's
calendar, The Sheep's Tale is a loving biography of ewes, lambs,
and rams through the seasons. Lewis-Stempel tends to his flock with
deep-rooted wisdom, ethical consideration, affection, and humour.
This book is a tribute to all the sheep he has reared and sheared -
from gregarious Action Ram to sweet Maid Marion. In his inimitable
style, he shares the tales that only a shepherd can tell.
'An important book on several levels... Read a few sentences out
loud, wherever you are.' Rosamund Young I look at the Ryeland ewes,
white and fat with fecundity. Replete with contentment. Contentment
is a transmissible condition. I catch it off the sheep. The old
time shepherds used to sleep with their sheep, out in the fields. I
do it sometimes too, on the dry nights, the sheep lying down around
me. I'm not sure on those nights who is protecting whom. Everybody
thinks they know what sheep are like: they're stupid, noisy,
cowardly ('lambs to the slaughter'), and they're 'sheepwrecking'
the environment. Or maybe not. Contrary to popular prejudice, sheep
are among the smartest animals in the farmyard, fiercely loyal,
forming long and lasting friendships. Sheep, farmed properly, are
boons to biodiversity. They also happen to taste good and their
fleeces warm us through the winter - indeed, John Lewis-Stempel's
family supplied the wool for Queen Elizabeth's 'hose'. Observing
the traditional shepherd's calendar, The Sheep's Tale is a loving
biography of ewes, lambs, and rams through the seasons.
Lewis-Stempel tends to his flock with deep-rooted wisdom, ethical
consideration, affection, and humour. This book is a tribute to all
the sheep he has reared and sheared - from gregarious Action Ram to
sweet Maid Marion. In his inimitable style, he shares the tales
that only a shepherd can tell.
'Britain's finest living nature writer' THE TIMES 'Lewis-Stempel's
greatest gift remains his prose, with all its vividness and energy'
THE DAILY MAIL 'The hottest nature writer around' THE SPECTATOR At
night, the normal rules of Nature do not apply. In the night-wood I
have met a badger coming the other way, tipped my cap, said hello.
The animals do not expect us humans to be abroad in the dark, which
is their time, when the world still belongs to them. That was in
winter. The screaming of a tawny owl echoed off the bare trees. For
all of our street-lamp civilization, you can still hear the call of
the wild. If, if, you go out after the decline of the day... As the
human world settles down each evening, nocturnal animals prepare to
take back the countryside. Taking readers on four walks through the
four seasons, acclaimed nature writer and farmer John Lewis-Stempel
reveals a world bursting with life and normally hidden from view.
Out beyond the cities, it is still possible to see the night sky
full of stars, or witness a moonbow, an arch of white light in the
heavens. It is time for us to leave our lairs and go tramping. To
join our fellow creatures of the night.
A practical guide to finding and preparing food from hedgerows,
parks, fields, woods, rivers and seashore. Aimed at the beginner,
it also has a wealth of tips for the enthusiast, and, unlike other
books on wild food, covers foraging in the urban environment as
well as the countryside. The book shows the reader 'Where, How and
When' to find the best edible berries, leaves, flowers, mushrooms,
seaweed, shellfish and snails, with clear and full instructions on
what is safe to eat. Foraging covers the 100 wild foods that are
good to eat, fun to find, easy to identify - and will make a
healthy difference to your diet and your bank balance. The book is
organised by environment so when taking a walk, gardening, or
having a day out you know how to gather a hedgerow harvest, a field
feast, a seaside salad. Each entry features one species, and fully
explains its looks, exactly where in the habitat it will be found,
when it is ripe to eat, its alternative names, its history, how to
harvest it, its culinary uses. There are full instructions too on
preparation of each plant/fungi/animal, along with recipes for its
use. Comfrey fritters, hazelnut pate, nettle beer,sorrel soup,
dandelion coffee, blackberry jam....
AS FEATURED ON 'BBC RADIO 4 'GOOD READS'. Woodlands Awards 2019:
Woodland Books of the Year 'The oak is the wooden tie between
heaven and earth. It is the lynch pin of the British landscape.'
The oak is our most beloved and most common tree. It has roots that
stretch back to all the old European cultures but Britain has more
ancient oaks than all the other European countries put together.
More than half the ancient oaks in the world are in Britain. Many
of our ancestors - the Angles, the Saxons, the Norse - came to the
British Isles in longships made of oak. For centuries the oak
touched every part of a Briton's life - from cradle to coffin It
was oak that made the 'wooden walls' of Nelson's navy, and the navy
that allowed Britain to rule the world. Even in the digital Apple
age, the real oak has resonance - the word speaks of fortitude,
antiquity, pastoralism. The Glorious Life of the Oak explores our
long relationship with this iconic tree; it considers the
life-cycle of the oak, the flora and fauna that depend on the oak,
the oak as medicine, food and drink, where Britain's mightiest oaks
can be found, and it tells of oak stories from folklore, myth and
legend.
The perfect gift for nature lovers - The Book of the Owl is a
beautifully illustrated small format hardback exploring the legend
and history of the owl. A true celebration of this magnificent
creature - its natural powers and its mythical glory. Fans of
Stephen Moss and Fiona Stafford will not be disappointed. 'In this
short, beautiful little book, the farmer and nature writer
introduces us to the wisdom of owls.. every question you might ask
... is answered with economy and insight and the cultural
references and quotations are as rich as you would expect from this
brilliant writer.' -- Daily Mail 'John Lewis-Stempel is one of the
best nature writers of his generation' -- Country Life 'One of our
finest nature writers with an essay length portrait of a bird that
has fascinated humans for millennia.' -- Mail on Sunday 'An
absolute pleasure to read' -- ***** Reader review 'Hypnotic
reading' -- ***** Reader review 'Absolutely fascinating' -- *****
Reader review 'Hard to put down once opened, it is finished all too
quickly' -- ***** Reader review
*******************************************************************************
'Dusk is filling the valley. It is the time of the gloaming, the
owl-light. Out in the wood, the resident tawny has started calling,
Hoo-hoo-hoo-h-o-o-o.' There is something about owls. They feature
in every major culture from the Stone Age onwards. They are
creatures of the night, and thus of magic. They are the birds of
ill-tidings, the avian messengers from the Other Side. But owls -
with the sapient flatness of their faces, their big, round eyes,
their paternal expressions - are also reassuringly familiar. We see
them as wise, like Athena's owl, and loyal, like Harry Potter's
Hedwig. Human-like, in other words. No other species has so
captivated us.
The Pond. Nothing in the countryside is more humble or more valuable. Its the moorhens reedy home, the frogs ancient breeding place, the kill zone of the beautiful dragonfly. More than a hundred rare and threatened fauna and flora depend on it. Written in gorgeous prose, Still Water tells the seasonal story of the wild animals and plants that live in and around the pond, from the mayfly larvae in the mud to the patrolling bats in the night sky above. It reflects an era before the water was polluted with chemicals and the land built on for housing, a time when ponds shone everywhere like eyes in the land, sustaining life for all, from fish to carthorse. Still Water is a loving biography of the pond, and an alarm call on behalf of this precious but overlooked habitat. Above all, John Lewis-Stempel takes us on a remarkable journey deep, deep down into the nature of still water.
"How to describe the ecstatic song of larks? How the writers and
poets have tried..." Skylarks are the heralds of our countryside.
Their music is the quintessential sound of spring. The spirit of
English pastoralism, they inspire poets, composers and farmers
alike. In the trenches of World War I they were a reminder of the
chattering meadows of home. Perhaps you were up with the lark, or
as happy as one. History has seen us poeticise and musicise the
bird, but also capture and eat them. We watch as they climb the
sky, delight in their joyful singing, and yet we harm them too. The
Soaring life of the Lark explores the music and poetry; the
breath-taking heights and struggle to survive of one of Britain's
most iconic songbirds. PRAISE FOR JOHN LEWIS-STEMPEL 'Britain's
finest living nature writer' - The Times 'Lewis-Stempel is a
fourth-generation farmer gifted with an extraordinary ability to
write prose that soars and sings' - Daily Mail
"I adore the fox for its magnificence; I hate the fox for killing
my chickens. To love and loathe the fox is a British condition."
The fox is our apex predator, our most beautiful and clever killer.
We have witnessed its wild touch, watched it slink by bins at night
and been chilled by its high-pitched scream. And yet we long to
stroke the tumbling cubs outside their tunnel homes and watch the
vixen stalk the cornfield. There is something about foxes. They
captivate us like no other species. Exploring a long and sometimes
complicated relationship, The Wild Life of the Fox captures our
love - and sometimes loathing - of this magnificent creature in
vivid detail and lyrical prose.
The story of the British Army has many sides to it, being a tale of
heroic successes and tragic failures, of dogged determination and
drunken disorder. It involves many of the most vital preoccupations
in the history of the island - the struggle against Continental
domination by a single power, the battle for Empire - and a cast pf
remarkable characters - Marlborough, Wellington and Montgomery
among them. Yet the British, relying on their navy, have always
neglected their army; from the time of Alfred the Great to the
reign of Charles II wars were fought with hired forces disbanded as
soon as conflict ended. Even after the stuggles with Louis XIV
impelled the formation of a reulgar army, impecunious governments
neglected the armed forces except in times of national emergency.
In this wide-ranging account, Major Haswell sketches the medieval
background before concentrating on the three hundred years of the
regular army, leading up to its role in our own time. He presents
an informed and probing picture of the organization of the army,
the development of weaponry and strategy - and the everyday life of
the British soldier through the centuries. John Lewis-Stempel has
brought Major Haswell's classic work right up to date by expanding
the section on the dissolution of empire to include a full account
of Northern Ireland and the Falklands War. He has added a new
chapter to cover the Gulf War, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq; also
the increasing role of special forces and the amalgamation of
regiments.
'BRITAIN'S FINEST LIVING NATURE WRITER' - THE TIMES A SUNDAY TIMES
BESTSELLER and BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' from 'indisputably,
one of the best nature-writers of his generation' (Country Life)
Written in diary format, The Wood is the story of English woodlands
as they change with the seasons. Lyrical and informative, steeped
in poetry and folklore, The Wood inhabits the mind and touches the
soul. For four years John Lewis-Stempel managed Cockshutt wood, a
particular wood - three and half acres of mixed woodland in south
west Herefordshire - that stands as exemplar for all the small
woods of England. John coppiced the trees and raised cows and pigs
who roamed free there. This is the diary of the last year, by which
time he had come to know it from the bottom of its beech roots to
the tip of its oaks, and to know all the animals that lived there -
the fox, the pheasants, the wood mice, the tawny owl - and where
the best bluebells grew. For many fauna and flora, woods like
Cockshutt are the last refuge. It proves a sanctuary for John too.
To read The Wood is to be amongst its trees as the seasons change,
following an easy path until, suddenly the view is broken by a
screen of leaves, or your foot catches on a root, or a bird
startles overhead. This is a wood you will never want to leave.
__________________ 'BRITAIN'S FINEST LIVING NATURE WRITER' - THE
TIMES The Sunday Times Bestseller - SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT
PRIZE 2017 Traditional ploughland is disappearing. Seven cornfield
flowers have become extinct in the last twenty years. Once
abundant, the corn bunting and the lapwing are on the Red List. The
corncrake is all but extinct in England. And the hare is running
for its life. Written in exquisite prose, The Running Hare tells
the story of the wild animals and plants that live in and under our
ploughland, from the labouring microbes to the patrolling kestrel
above the corn, from the linnet pecking at seeds to the seven-spot
ladybird that eats the aphids that eat the crop. It recalls an era
before open-roofed factories and silent, empty fields, recording
the ongoing destruction of the unique, fragile, glorious ploughland
that exists just down the village lane. But it is also the story of
ploughland through the eyes of man who took on a field and
husbanded it in a natural, traditional way, restoring its fertility
and wildlife, bringing back the old farmland flowers and animals.
John Lewis Stempel demonstrates that it is still possible to create
a place where the hare can rest safe. Shortlisted for the Richard
Jefferies Society White Horse Bookshop Prize 2016. John
Lewis-Stempel was winner of the Thwaites Wainwright Prize 2015 for
MEADOWLAND.
The extraordinary story of British junior officers in the First
World War, who led their men out of the trenches and faced a life
expectancy of six weeks. During the Great War, many boys went
straight from the classroom to the most dangerous job in the world
- that of junior officer on the Western Front. Although desperately
aware of how many of their predecessors had fallen before them,
nearly all stepped forward, unflinchingly, to do their duty. The
average life expectancy of a subaltern in the trenches was a mere
six weeks. In this remarkable book, John Lewis-Stempel focuses on
the forgotten men who truly won Britain's victory in the First
World War - the subalterns, lieutenants and captains of the Army,
the leaders in the trenches, the first 'over the top', the last to
retreat. Basing his narrative on a huge range of first-person
accounts, including the poignant letters and diaries sent home or
to their old schools, the author reveals what motivated these
boy-men to act in such an extraordinary, heroic way. He describes
their brief, brilliant lives in and out of the trenches, the
tireless ways they cared for their men, and how they tried to
behave with honour in a world where their values and codes were
quite literally being shot to pieces.
THE PERFECT GIFT FOR NATURE LOVERS 'To see a hare sit still as
stone, to watch a hare boxing on a frosty March morning, to witness
a hare bolt . . . these are great things. Every field should have a
hare.' The hare, a night creature and country-dweller, is a rare
sight for most people. We know them only from legends and stories.
They are shape-shifters, witches' familiars and symbols of
fertility. They are arrogant, as in Aesop's The Hare and the
Tortoise, and absurd, as in Lewis Carroll's Mad March Hare. In the
absence of observed facts, speculation and fantasy have flourished.
But real hares? What are they like? In The Private Life of the
Hare, John Lewis-Stempel explores myths, history and the reality of
the hare. And in vivid, elegant prose he celebrates how, in an age
when television cameras have revealed so much in our landscape, the
hare remains as elusive and magical as ever.
Winner of the 2017 Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize for nature
writing The natural history of the Western Front during the First
World War 'If it weren't for the birds, what a hell it would be.'
During the Great War, soldiers lived inside the ground, closer to
nature than many humans had lived for centuries. Animals provided
comfort and interest to fill the blank hours in the trenches -
bird-watching, for instance, was probably the single most popular
hobby among officers. Soldiers went fishing in flooded shell holes,
shot hares in no-man's land for the pot, and planted gardens in
their trenches and billets. Nature was also sometimes a curse -
rats, spiders and lice abounded, and disease could be biblical. But
above all, nature healed, and, despite the bullets and blood, it
inspired men to endure. Where Poppies Blow is the unique story of
how nature gave the British soldiers of the Great War a reason to
fight, and the will to go on.
*WATERSTONES WELSH BOOK OF THE MONTH* My Family and Other Animals
meets The Secret Life of Cows: this rediscovered gem tells the
charming tale of how a baby llama transformed a Welsh farming
family forever. Things llamas like: Snaffling cherry brandy, Easter
eggs, and the Radio Times. Curling up in 'tea-cosy' position by the
fire. Orbiting, helicoptering, and oompahing. Locking victims in
the lavatory. Things llamas dislike: Being adopted mother to an
orphaned lamb. Invitations to star on Blue Peter. Snowdonia's
rainfall. The dark. Ruth Ruck's family live on a Welsh mountain
farm, no strangers to cow pats on the carpet and nesting hens in
the larder. When dark days strike, they embark on a farming
experiment to cheer them all up - but raising a baby llama proves
more of an adventure than expected . Reissued with a new foreword
by John Lewis-Stempel, Along Came a Llama is a delightful 1970s
farming classic: a charming, witty potrait of country life that
will warm the hearts of animal lovers everywhere. 'Full of soul ...
One departs this book a convinced llama-lover ... It is a guide to
the future. To a good life.' John Lewis-Stempel
The Wild Life is John Lewis-Stempel's account of twelve months
eating only food shot, caught or foraged from the fields, hedges,
and brooks of his forty-acre farm. Nothing from a shop and nothing
raised from agriculture. Could it even be done? We witness the
season-by-season drama as the author survives on Nature's larder,
trains Edith, a reluctant gundog, and conjures new recipes. And,
above all, we see him get closer to Nature. Because, after all,
you're never closer to Nature than when you're trying to kill it or
pick it. Lyrical, observant and mordantly funny, The Wild Life is
an extraordinary celebration of our natural heritage, and a
testament to the importance of getting back to one's roots -
spiritually and practically.
The last untold story of the First World War: the fortunes and
fates of 170,000 British soldiers captured by the enemy. On
capture, British officers and men were routinely told by the
Germans 'For you the war is over'. Nothing could be further from
the truth. British Prisoners of War merely exchanged one
barbed-wire battleground for another. In the camps the war was
eternal. There was the war against the German military, fought with
everything from taunting humour to outright sabotage, with a
literal spanner put in the works of the factories and salt mines
prisoners were forced to slave in. British PoWs also fought a
valiant war against the conditions in which they were mired. They
battled starvation, disease, Prussian cruelties, boredom, and their
own inner demons. And, of course, they escaped. Then escaped again.
No less than 29 officers at Holzminden camp in 1918 burrowed their
way out via a tunnel (dug with a chisel and trowel) in the Great
Escape of the Great War. It was war with heart-breaking
consequences: more than 12,000 PoWs died, many of them murdered, to
be buried in shallow unmarked graves. Using contemporary records -
from prisoners' diaries to letters home to poetry - John
Lewis-Stempel reveals the death, life and, above all, the glory of
Britain's warriors behind the wire. For it was in the PoW camps,
far from the blasted trenches, that the true spirit of the Tommy
was exemplified.
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