Fans of "Food for Free" will be delighted at this new format--ideal for carrying in a rucksack. Over 100 edible plants are featured together with recipes and other interesting culinary information. With details on how to pick, when to pick, and regulations on picking, this new format of a best-selling title provides a portable guide for all those who enjoy what the countryside has to offer. More than 100 plants are listed, fully illustrated, and described, together with recipes and other fascinating information about their use throughout the ages. The recipes are listed so that you can plan your foray with a feast in mind. This is the ideal book for both nature-lovers and cooks. Particularly with today's emphasis on the freshest and most natural of foods. There is also practical advice on how to pick plus the countryside laws and regulations on picking wild plants.

During the early 1970s Richard Mabey explored crumbling city docks and overgrown bomb-sites, navigated inner city canals and car parks, and discovered there was scarcely a nook in our urban landscape incapable of supporting life. The Unofficial Countryside is a timely reminder of how nature flourishes against the odds, surviving in the most obscure and surprising places. Originally published in 1973 this landmark book was described by Iain Sinclair as 'a proper reckoning, the Domesday Book of a topography too fascinating to be left alone.' This beautiful new edition forms part of the Richard Mabey library, published to celebrate the author's 80th birthday and has a cover by the artist Michael Kirkman.

This fully updated special edition of the classic complete guide to the edible species that grow around us includes a new foreword from the author and a plate section with identification guides for all major species. Originally published in 1972, Richard Mabey’s classic foraging guide has never been out of print since. Food for Free is a complete guide to help you safely identify edible species that grow around us, together with detailed field identification notes and recipes. In this stunning 50th anniversary edition, Richard Mabey’s updated text is accompanied by a wealth of practical information on identifying, collecting, cooking and preparing, as well as history and folklore. Informative illustrations of key species by expert botanical artists are included in a colour plate section. Beautifully written and produced in a new, readable format, Food for Free will inspire us to be more self-sufficient and make use of the natural resources around us to enhance our lives.

A complete guide to help you safely identify edible species that grow around us, together with detailed artworks, field identification notes and recipes. First published in 1972, this updated edition of Richard Mabey's cult bestseller has been revised to reflect the ever-increasing eco-awareness and popular interest in finding different, and more natural, sources of food. Each of the 240 types of fruit, nut, flower, seaweed, fungi and shellfish featured has its own identification field notes and artwork. Understand and learn about the fascinating edible species that you may come across and, with the help of the numerous recipes also included, find out the best way to pick and enjoy them. Beautifully illustrated and written, ‘Food for Free’ will inspire you to take more notice of the natural harvest that surrounds us, learn how to make use of it and conserve it for future generations.

'And so, with great care, he planted his hundred acorns' While hiking through the wild lavender in a wind-swept, desolate valley in Provence, a man comes across a solitary shepherd called Elzeard Bouffier. Staying with him, he watches Elzeard sorting and then planting hundreds of acorns as he walks through the wilderness. Ten years later, after surviving the First World War, he visits the shepherd again. A young forest is slowly spreading over the valley - Elzeard has continued his work. Year after year the narrator returns to see the miracle being created: a verdant, green landscape that is testament to one man's creative instinct. miracle he is gradually creating: a verdant, green landscape that is a testament to one man's creative instinct. 'I love the humanity of this story and how one man's efforts can change the future for so many' Michael Morpurgo, Independent VINTAGE EARTH is a series of books that reveals our ever-changing relationship with the environment. These are stories old and young, set in worlds real or imagined, that allow us to explore our connection to the natural world. Transformative, wild, surprising and essential, these novels take on the most urgent story of our times.

To celebrate Richard Mabey's 80th birthday, a reissue of the seminal Nature Cure, originally published in 2005 to great acclaim. At the height of his career, having recently published Flora Britannica, the author and naturalist fell in to a deep and all consuming depression. Unable to rise from his bed, his face turned to the wall, Richard Mabey found that the touchstones of his life - his love for nature and the land - could no longer offer him solace. But over time, with help from friends and a move to East Anglia, he slowly recovered, finding a new partner, and a new relationship with landscape. Nature Cure, full of nuance and energy, was a pioneering book in the genre that has since become known as New Nature Writing, and received many plaudits on publication. For this new hardback edition Richard has written a new foreword and Little Toller has commissioned a new jacket by the celebrated artist Michael Kirkman.

When the pioneering naturalist Gilbert White (1720-93) wrote The Natural History of Selborne (1789), he created one of the greatest and most influential natural history works of all time, his detailed observations about birds and animals providing the cornerstones of modern ecology. In this award-winning biography, Richard Mabey tells the wonderful story of the clergyman - England's first ecologist - whose inspirational naturalist's handbook has become an English classic.

In 1987 the Great Storm that ravaged southern England felled millions of trees, and prompted a reappraisal of the arboreal in our lives. In Beechcomings Richard Mabey set out to uncover our relationship with trees, and specifically the beech, their significance in nature and meaning in folklore. First published in 2007 this book was widely praised and described by Kathleen Jamie in the Guardian as 'Refreshing, droll, politically alert, occasionally self-mocking, he has the enviable ability both to write historical overview and also to slip into the woods like a dryad, bringing us back to the trees themselves.' This new edition forms part of the Richard Mabey Library, published to mark the author's 80th birthday, and includes a cover by the artist Michael Kirkman.

Weeds are botanical thugs, but they have always been essential to our lives. They were the first crops and medicines and they inspired Velcro. They adorn weddings and foliate the most derelict urban sites. With the verve and historical breadth of Michael Pollan, acclaimed nature writer Richard Mabey delivers a provocative defense of the plants we love to hate.

In his trademark style, Richard Mabey weaves together science, art and memoirs (including his own) to show the weather's impact on our culture and national psyche. He rambles through the myths of Golden Summers and our persistent state of denial about the winter; the Impressionists' love affair with London smog, seasonal affective disorder (SAD - do we all get it?) and the mysteries of storm migraines; herrings falling like hail in Norfolk and Saharan dust reddening south-coast cars; moonbows, dog-suns, fog-mirages and Constable's clouds; the fact that English has more words for rain than Inuit has for snow; the curious eccentricity of country clothing and the mathematical behaviour of umbrella sales.

We should never apologise for our obsession with the weather. It is one of the most profound influences on the way we live, and something we all experience in common. No wonder it's the natural subject for a greeting between total strangers: 'Turned out nice again.'

Ever since the first human settlements 10,000 years ago, weeds have dogged our footsteps. They are there as the punishment of 'thorns and thistles' in Genesis and , two millennia later, as a symbol of Flanders Field. They are civilisations' familiars, invading farmland and building-sites, war-zones and flower-beds across the globe. Yet living so intimately with us, they have been a blessing too. Weeds were the first crops, the first medicines. Burdock was the inspiration for Velcro. Cow parsley has become the fashionable adornment of Spring weddings. Weaving together the insights of botanists, gardeners, artists and poets with his own life-long fascination, Richard Mabey examines how we have tried to define them, explain their persistence, and draw moral lessons from them. One persons weed is another's wild beauty.

Kenneth Allsop was a writer, journalist and broadcaster who in the 1960s and early 70s became one of Britain's first television celebrities. Voted the 'fifth most handsome man in the world', he enjoyed the high life of fast cars, jazz and smart London parties, moving among the nation's glitterati from the arts, media and politics. But he was also an accomplished naturalist and a passionate conservationist who fought fiercely to hold back mounting threats to Britain's wildlife and landscapes. He played a key role in raising the public's concern for the environment long before the advent of the UK's now-powerful green movement. Keeping the Barbarians at Bay focuses on the last few years of Allsop's short life, when he escaped London to live in a seventeenth- century watermill in the secret, crumpled landscape of West Dorset. The book describes how the threat of oil and gas exploration in this protected area of outstanding natural beauty forced him to become an environmental activist, and how his grassroots campaigning led him to the BBC's first environmentalist TV series Down to Earth, and to a radical 'green' column in The Sunday Times. Not surprisingly, he made powerful enemies in government and big business, at a time when there were few other environmental champions to lend him support. Using his unpublished diaries and papers, Keeping the Barbarians at Bay reveals the inside story of Allsop's struggles on three fronts: with 'the barbarians'; with the constant physical pain from his amputated right leg; and with his despair at the huge environmental challenges facing the planet. In the end, they were battles he could not win, and in May 1973 he took his own life at the tragically early age of 53.

In The Cabaret of Plants, Mabey explores the plant species which have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty and belief. Picked from every walk of life, they encompass crops, weeds, medicines, religious gathering-places and a water lily named after a queen. Beginning with pagan cults and creation myths, the cultural significance of plants has burst upwards, sprouting into forms as diverse as the panacea (the cure-all plant ginseng, a single root of which can cost up to $10,000), Newton's apple, the African 'vegetable elephant' or boabab - and the mystical, night-flowering Amazonian cactus, the moonflower. Ranging widely across science, art and cultural history, poetry and personal experience, Mabey puts plants centre stage, and reveals a true botanical cabaret, a world of tricksters, shape-shifters and inspired problem-solvers, as well as an enthralled audience of romantics, eccentric amateur scientists and transgressive artists. The Cabaret of Plants celebrates the idea that plants are not simply 'the furniture of the planet', but vital, inventive, individual beings worthy of respect - and that to understand this may be the best way of preserving life together on Earth.

Edward Chell investigates motorway landscapes, linking these with eighteenth century ideas of the Picturesque which were formed at a time when commerce and tourism drove the development of roads and laid the foundations of today's network. Soft Estate features art works by Chell which explore the interface between history, ecology and speed, alongside essays giving new perspectives on how roads and travel have shaped both what we see and how we look at it.

'Britain's greatest living nature writer' The Times Rediscover the extraodinary power of nature and the British wilderness, from award-winning naturalist and author Richard Mabey In the last year of the old millennium, Richard Mabey, Britain's foremost nature writer, fell into a severe depression. The natural world - which since childhood had been a source of joy and inspiration for him - became meaningless. Then, cared for by friends, he moved to East Anglia and he started to write again. Having left the cosseting woods of the Chiltern hills for the open flatlands of Norfolk, Richard Mabey found exhilaration in discovering a whole new landscape and gained fresh insights into our place in nature. Structured as intricately as a novel, a joy to read, truthful, exquisite and questing, Nature Cure is a book of hope, not just for individuals, but for our species. 'A brilliant, candid and heartfelt memoir...how he broke free of depression, reshaped his life and reconnected with the wild becomes nothing short of a manifesto for living...Mabey's particular vision, informed by a lifetime's reading and observation, is ultimately optimistic' Sunday Times

The narrator of this allegorical tale, journeying by foot across the barren plains of the lower Alps, has his thirst assuaged by the well water drawn by the shepherd Elzéard Bouffier. Thus begins the subtle parable that Giono weaves of the life-giving shepherd who chooses to live alone and carry out the work of God. Over forty years the desolate hills and lifeless villages which so oppressed the traveller are transformed by the dedication of one man. All with the help of a few acorns. Written in the 1950s, Giono’s brief story, which he hoped would help set in motion a worldwide reforestation programme, had a message ahead of its time. It has inspired many readers over the years to rediscover the harmonies of the countryside and prevent its wilful destruction. This edition is enhanced by Harry Brockway’s delightful engravings and by an afterword by Alyne Giono.

The story of three closely related Oxfordshire communities - a hamlet, the nearby village and a small market town - this immortal trilogy is based on Flora Thompson's experiences during childhood and youth. It chronicles May Day celebrations and forgotten children's games, the daily lives of farmworkers and craftsmen, friends and relations - all painted with the gaiety and freshness of observation that makes this a precise and endearing portrayal of country life at the end of the last century.

'One of our greatest nature writers' Guardian For over fifty years, Richard Mabey has been a pioneering voice in modern nature writing. This book collects pieces across his rich career, tracing his continually evolving ideas as much as the profound changes in our environment. From the rediscovery of food foraging in the 1970s, to reflections on the musicality of birdsong, these essays show Mabey's passionate belief that our planet is a commonwealth for all species, and that our reconnection with the living world is more vital than ever. 'If such a thing as nature writing exists and flourishes today it is thanks almost entirely to Richard Mabey' Tim Dee 'Poised where nature meets culture, [Mabey] is knowledgeable, politically savvy and wry, and an excellent naturalist' New Statesman

From ash die-back to the Great Storm of 1987 to Dutch elm disease, our much-loved woodlands seem to be under constant threat from a procession of natural challenges. Just when we need trees most, to help combat global warming and to provide places of retreat for us and our wildlife, they seem at greatest peril. But these dangers force us to reconsider the narrative we construct about trees and the roles we press on them. In this now classic book, Richard Mabey looks at how, for more than a thousand years, we have appropriated and humanised trees, turning them into arboreal pets, status symbols, expressions of fashionable beauty - anything rather than allow them lives of their own. And in the poetic and provocative style he has made his signature, Mabey argues that respecting trees' independence and ancient powers of survival may be the wisest response to their current crises. Originally published with the title Beechcombings, this updated edition includes a new foreword and afterword by the author.

Rose Wylie RA (b.1934) trained as an artist in the 1950s, but it was her re-engagement with painting in the early 1980s, after a period spent raising a family, that marked the beginning of a remarkable career that continues to evolve and impress. This monograph, the first of its kind, follows Wylie's fascinating artistic journey celebrating her achievements while also examining her current practice. Rose Wylie's large-scale paintings are inspired by a wide range of visual culture. Her subject matter ranges from contemporary Egyptian Hajj wall paintings and Persian miniatures to films, news stories, celebrity gossip and her observation of daily life. Often working from memory, she distills her subjects into succinct observations, using text to give additional emphasis to her recollections. In weaving together imagery from different sources with personal elements, Wylie's paintings offer a direct and wry commentary on contemporary culture. Her pictures refuse judgment but reveal a concern with the everyday that makes visible its enigmatic core. Drawing on a series of extended interviews with the artist, Clarrie Wallis unpicks the complexities of Wylie's visual language so providing an important contribution to our understanding, and appreciation of, a significant, and increasingly celebrated, figure in contemporary British art.

Trees and woods offer great potential for rebuilding our wider relationship with nature, reinforcing local identity and sustaining wildlife. We need more trees and woods in our lives, to lock up carbon, to mitigate flooding, to help shade our towns and cities and bring shelter, wildlife and beauty to places. Living with Trees is a cornucopia of practical information, good examples and new ideas that will inspire, guide and encourage people to reconnect with the trees and woods in their community, so we can all discover how to value, celebrate and protect our arboreal neighbours.

Gilbert White's beautifully written evocation of the natural world of Selborne has remained enduringly popular since its first publication in 1788-9. What explains the fascination of this work? Gilbert White made many original contributions to science, but these were minor by comparison with those of giants like Darwin and Mendel. Yet his book, more than any other, has shaped our everyday view of the relations between human beings and nature. In it he suggests that the lives of birds and animals have their own richness and rhythm, and in demonstrating this belief with accuracy and percipience he struck a new note in nature writing. He once commented, 'The investigation of the life and conversation of animals is a concern of much more trouble and difficulty, and is not to be attained but by the active and inquisitive, and by those that reside much in the country.' Gilbert White was all of these things, and through his delightful 'parochial history' Selborne becomes, in David Elliston Allen's phrase, 'the secret, private parish inside each one of us'.

During the early 1970s Richard Mabey set about mapping his unofficial countryside. He walked crumbling city docks and overgrown bomb sites, navigating inner city canals and car parks, exploring sewage works, gravel pits, rubbish tips. What he discovered runs deeper than a natural history of our suburbs and cities. The Unofficial Countryside prescribes another way of seeing, another way of experiencing nature in our daily lives. Wild flowers glimpsed from a commuter train. A kestrel hawking above a public park. Enchanter's nightshade growing through pavement cracks. Fox cubs playing on a motorway's scrubby fringe. There is a scarcely a nook in our urban landscape incapable of supporting life. It is an inspiration to find this abundance, to discover how plants, birds, mammals and insects flourish against the odds in the most obscure and surprising places.

The British love their birds, which are inextricably entwined with every aspect of their island life. British customs, more than 1,000 years of English literature, the very fabric of society, even the landscape itself, have all been enhanced by the presence of birds. Highly acclaimed on first publication, this superb book pays tribute to the remarkable relationship forged between a nation and its most treasured national heritage. Birds Britannica is a unique publication of immense importance. Neither an identification guide nor a behavioural study (although both these subjects enter its field), it concentrates on our social history and on the cultural links between humans and birds. What makes Birds Britannica of special significance is the inclusion of observations and experiences from more than 1,000 naturalists and bird lovers. These contributions from the public touch on avian ecology; the lore and language of birds; their myths, the art and literature they have inspired; birds as food; and the crucial role they play in our sense of place and the changing seasons. Birds Britannica took eight years to research and was assembled by a team that included some of the finest writers and image-makers of British wildlife. On one level, it is a remarkable collection of humorous stories, field observations and tales of joy, wonder and occasional woe; on another, it is a nationwide chronicle. Scholarly and wide-ranging, a mix of the traditional and the contemporary, Birds Britannica is a comprehensive record of birdlife in the early years of the twenty-first century. No other book has dealt so completely with the rich connections between birds and humans; Birds Britannica captures the very essence of that relationship, and explores why birds matter and why we care.