John Lewis-Stempel

WINNER OF THE THWAITES WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2015 What really goes on in the long grass? Meadowland gives an unique and intimate account of an English meadowâe(tm)s life from January to December, together with its biography. In exquisite prose, John Lewis-Stempel records the passage of the seasons from cowslips in spring to the hay-cutting of summer and grazing in autumn, and includes the biographies of the animals that inhabit the grass and the soil beneath: the badger clan, the fox family, the rabbit warren,the skylark brood and the curlew pair, among others. Their births, lives, and deaths are stories that thread through the book from first page to last.

The Private Life of an English Field

Meadowland

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With direct yet delicate prose, Meadowland captures the intricate fabric of a single patch of land through all the seasons. It was immersive and insightful, and it offered a beloved escape.

Phil James

Wonderful nature writing that brought me back to all the books I loved as a child: Gerald Durrell, James Herriot, Richard Adams and Joy Adamson.
He writes about the year, from month to month, of the intimate life of one meadow on the border of Wales and England, not far from where I grew up and rambled around in the countryside.
He has the eyes of a child, the inclinations of a farmer and the patience of a old-time naturalist. 
This isn't at all fluffy; sometimes nature "is red in tooth and claw" 
All in all a very satisfying little book.

Meadowland The Private Life of an English Field

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