NEXT TO NATURE: A LIFE IN THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE (PB)

From the author of the classic Akenfield, this is an unforgettable ode to the English countryside in which Ronald Blythe meditates on his life and faith, on literature, art and history, and on our place in the landscape with gentle wit and keen observation. He lived at the end of an overgrown farm track deep in the rolling countryside of the Stour Valley, on the border between Suffolk and Essex and his home was Bottengoms Farm, a sturdy yeoman's house once owned by the artist John Nash. From here, Blythe spent almost half a century observing the slow turn of the agricultural year, the church year and village life in a series of rich, lyrical rural diaries.