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Start giftingWoodston
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Learn moreBrought to you by Penguin.
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.
© John Lewis-Stempel 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021
John Lewis-Stempel is a farmer and 'Britain's finest living nature writer' (The Times). His books include the Sunday Times bestsellers Woodston, The Running Hare and The Wood. He is the only person to have won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing twice, with Meadowland and Where Poppies Blow. In 2016 he was named Magazine Columnist of the Year for his column in Country Life. He farms cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. Traditionally.
Reviews
Lewis-Stempel's greatest gift remains his prose, with all its vividness and energy. His aim in Woodston was to 'fashion a memorial in print' to his grandparents and 'all the yeomen farmers of England, past, present and future'.
The English countryside is 'a work of human art, done by the many and the nameless' and he wanted to celebrate it. He has succeeded admirably