Next to Nature: A Lifetime in the English Countryside

Ronald Blythe's rural diaries, "Next to Nature," capture the charm, wonder, eccentricity, and vigor of country life, offering a celebration of one of England's greatest nature writers and an unforgettable ode to the English countryside.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 480 pages
Publication date: 13 April 2023
Publisher: John Murray Press

All the charm, wonder, eccentricity, and vigor of country life are here in these pages, and told with such engaging directness, detail, and color. Bliss! STEPHEN FRY A capacious work that contains multitudes. A work to amble through, seasonally, relishing the vivid dashes of color and the precision and delicacy of the descriptions. THE SPECTATOR A writer whose pages you turn and then turn back immediately to re-read, relish, and get by heart. SUSAN HILL, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH Ronald Blythe 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. 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. Beginning with the arrival of snow on New Year's Day and ending with Christmas carols sung in the village church, Next to Nature invites us to witness a simple life richly lived. With gentle wit and keen observation, Blythe meditates on his life and faith, on literature, art, and history, and on our place in the landscape. It is a celebration of one of our greatest nature writers, and an unforgettable ode to the English countryside.

Weight: 380g
Dimension: 196 x 128 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399804691