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
MailIn 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.
