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Reading lists

What I’m Reading: John Lewis-Stempel

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Extracts

An English farm: an exclusive look at John Lewis-Stempel’s new work in progress

Five things that inspired The Running Hare

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Features

5 things that inspired The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel

The Biography of An English Farm – The Sunday Times Bestseller

Woodston

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 Mail 
 _________________ 
 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.

One of Britain's finest nature writers...Lewis-Stempel maps an intriguing journey through his ancestral farmland.

Hardback Book of the Month: John Lewis-Stempel has ... an eye for vivid detail who creates evocative images as he shares his knowledge and love of the countryside.

From a master of storytelling... Other writers have written about the history of agriculture ... but this writer is the master, because his book is not just a scholarly treatise. It is about the history of agriculture, yes, but it is a personal account, written with a great love of the subject. It is the 'biography' of a farm and the English landscape, written through the eyes of a man who is a true wordsmith, knowledgeable on his subject and lover of the natural world. It is these enthusiasms which make it so readable ... [Lewis-Stempel is] a writer who is without equal in his field.

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.

A year in rural France

La Vie

The Charente: roofs of red terracotta tiles, bleached-white walls, windows shuttered against the blaring sun. The baker does his rounds in his battered little white van with a hundred warm baguettes in the back, while a cat picks its way past a Romanesque church, the sound of bells skipping across miles of rolling, glorious countryside. 
 
For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned once again to live in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing, as they did almost everywhere in his childhood. He wanted to be self-sufficient, to make his own wine and learn the secrets of truffle farming. And so, buying an old honey-coloured limestone house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new life as peasant farmers. 
 
Over that first year, Lewis-Stempel fell in love with the French countryside, from the wild boar that trot past the kitchen window to the glow-worms and citronella candles that flicker in the evening garden. Although it began as a practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart: of learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours for lunch; in short, living the good life - or as the French say, La Vie.

AN INDIE BESTSELLER 
 
'It reminded me all over again of why I threw up everything for the magic of La Belle France' Carol Drinkwater, author of The Olive Farm 
 
'An utterly beguiling immersion in La France Profonde, keenly observed and beautifully told' Felicity Cloake, author of One More Croissant for the Road 
 
For fans of Peter Mayle, 'Britain's finest living nature writer' takes the plunge and buys an old farmhouse deep in the French countryside - a perfect slice of sunny escapist joy from the perennial Sunday Times bestseller. 
 
The Charente: roofs of red terracotta tiles, bleached-white walls, windows shuttered against the blaring sun. The baker does his rounds in his battered little white van with a hundred warm baguettes in the back, while a cat picks its way past a Romanesque church, the sound of bells skipping across miles of rolling, glorious countryside. 
 
For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned once again to live in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing, as they did almost everywhere in his childhood. He wanted to be self-sufficient, to make his own wine and learn the secrets of truffle farming. And so, buying an old honey-coloured limestone house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new life as peasant farmers. 
 
Over that first year, Lewis-Stempel fell in love with the French countryside, from the wild boar that trot past the kitchen window to the glow-worms and citronella candles that flicker in the evening garden. Although it began as a practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart: of learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours for lunch; in short, living the good life - or as the French say, La Vie.

The writing is as smooth as a glass of vintage wine...Even if it doesn't make you want to move to France, you'll still wish you could open your window at night and hear that nightingale singing to you.

John Lewis-Stempel sets off from the UK to the rural far west of France - la France profonde - where he and his wife settle to a farming life in a draughty house with a small menagerie of pets and farm animals and a few acres of vineyards. Life on John's blustery Charente escarpment is a far cry from our sun-baked Olive Farm in Provence. Still, I was quickly drawn into his world and his fascinating pot-pourri of all things French. His is a good-natured universe of horses and hares, hoopoes and hens. La Vie is a pleasing, gentle read. Like the dormice who nest in the attic, you soon want to snuggle up in the spare bedroom. It reminded me all over again of why I threw up everything for the magic of La Belle France.

Carol Drinkwater, author of The Olive Farm

John Lewis-Stempel's story of a year on his smallholding in the Charente is warm and vivid and beautiful. He plants his toes in the French earth and turns his lyrical gaze on the land, the people, the deep community spirit. Above all he does what he does best, he writes with virtuosity about the countryside and, in doing so, he writes about himself.

Trevor Dolby, author of One Place de l’Eglise

A clear-eyed and unsentimental, yet utterly beguiling immersion in La France Profonde, keenly observed and beautifully told.

Felicity Cloake, author of One More Croissant for the Road

This brilliantly written memoir will make you want to up sticks.

One of the most celebrated - if not the best - Nature writers of his generation... It's not only about the Lewis-Stempels, their two children, dogs and menagerie of livestock. It's also an affectionate portrait of the locals... who welcome the family so warmly.

Lewis-Stempel is a one-man advertisement for agricultural viability and ecological sensitivity, and an upholder of local uniqueness. His books is infinitely beguiling.

A charming account of how a farmer swapped Herefordshire for a life in rural France... Readers of his many books and his Times nature columns will know how easily Lewis-Stempel's writing marries the lyrical with the descriptive... And his capacity for wonder never flags.

He guides us with gusto around his tiny potager, his five-strong herd of Ouessant sheep with their coveted wool, his water lilies. You'll yearn for la France profonde.

The Charente: roofs of red terracotta tiles, bleached-white walls, windows shuttered against the blaring sun. The baker does his rounds in his battered white van with a hundred warm baguettes in the back, while a cat picks its way past a Romanesque church, the sound of bells skipping across miles of rolling, glorious countryside. 
 
For years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned to live once again in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing, as they did in his 1970s childhood. He also wanted to grow lavender, make his own wine, learn the secrets of truffle farming, raise Toulouse geese ... And so he and his wife bought an old honey-coloured curate's house and its land in the French countryside. 
 
They fell in love with their surroundings, from the wild boar that trot past the kitchen window to the fall of the walnuts in the orchard in autumn. Although their move began as a practical enterprise, it became an affair of the heart: of learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours for lunch; sipping Pineau by the flickering light of citronella candles in the evening garden. In short, living the good life - or, as the French say, La Vie. 
 
£16.99

The story of our most misunderstood farmyard animal

The Sheep’s Tale

Everybody thinks they know what sheep are like: they're stupid, noisy, cowardly ('lambs to the slaughter'), and they're 'sheepwrecking' the environment. 
 
Or maybe not. Contrary to popular prejudice, sheep are among the smartest animals in the farmyard, fiercely loyal, forming long and lasting friendships. Sheep, farmed properly, are boons to biodiversity. They also happen to taste good and their fleeces warm us through the winter - indeed, John Lewis-Stempel's family supplied the wool for Queen Elizabeth's 'hose'. 
 
Observing the traditional shepherd's calendar, The Sheep's Tale is a loving biography of ewes, lambs, and rams through the seasons. Lewis-Stempel tends to his flock with deep-rooted wisdom, ethical consideration, affection, and humour. This book is a tribute to all the sheep he has reared and sheared - from gregarious Action Ram to sweet Maid Marion. In his inimitable style, he shares the tales that only a shepherd can tell.

'An important book on several levels... Read a few sentences out loud, wherever you are.' Rosamund Young 
 
Everybody thinks they know what sheep are like: they're stupid, noisy, cowardly ('lambs to the slaughter'), and they're 'sheepwrecking' the environment. 
 
Or maybe not. Contrary to popular prejudice, sheep are among the smartest animals in the farmyard, fiercely loyal, forming long and lasting friendships. Sheep, farmed properly, are boons to biodiversity. They also happen to taste good and their fleeces warm us through the winter - indeed, John Lewis-Stempel's family supplied the wool for Queen Elizabeth's 'hose'. 
 
Observing the traditional shepherd's calendar, The Sheep's Tale is a loving biography of ewes, lambs, and rams through the seasons. Lewis-Stempel tends to his flock with deep-rooted wisdom, ethical consideration, affection, and humour. This book is a tribute to all the sheep he has reared and sheared - from gregarious Action Ram to sweet Maid Marion. In his inimitable style, he shares the tales that only a shepherd can tell.

I found this book not only pleasingly escapist but also nostalgic... the writing is vivid, lyrical and seductive... There's a romance to shepherding that is entirely absent from pig and poultry farming.

The Sheep's Tale is an important book on several levels... Read a few sentences out loud, wherever you are; everyone should know more about sheep.

Rosamund Young, author of The Secret Life of Cows

A book of brilliant authenticity. Lewis-Stempel's affection for, and empathy with, sheep springs off every page.

Sally Coulthard, author of A Short History of the World According to Sheep

John Lewis Stempel's paean of praise for our wonderful and unique breeds of British sheep ought to be widely read. Sheep and pastoral farming are coming under increasingly strident onslaught and they will need every ounce of support they can get if they are to survive into the future.

Philip Walling, author of Counting Sheep

This little book is both delightful and useful.

An insider's account of the gentle art of shepherding.. . a paean to a lost era, when shepherds watched their flocks by night and regarded them with respectful understanding, rather than exploiting them as mere commodities... delivered with engaging wit... intelligently argued and full of surprising facts.

[Lewis-Stempel is] a superb nature writer... Anyone who tells you that these creatures are stupid is pulling the wool over your eyes.

A warm-hearted and deeply personal biography of ewes, rams and lambs... His affection for his flock shines through these shepherding tales.

Four Journeys into Britain After Dark

Nightwalking

'Britain's finest living nature writer' THE TIMES 
 
'Lewis-Stempel's greatest gift remains his prose, with all its vividness and energy' THE DAILY MAIL 
 
'The hottest nature writer around' THE SPECTATOR 
 
At night, the normal rules of Nature do not apply. In the night-wood I have met a badger coming the other way, tipped my cap, said hello. The animals do not expect us humans to be abroad in the dark, which is their time, when the world still belongs to them. 
 
That was in winter. The screaming of a tawny owl echoed off the bare trees. For all of our street-lamp civilization, you can still hear the call of the wild. If, if, you go out after the decline of the day... 
 
As the human world settles down each evening, nocturnal animals prepare to take back the countryside. Taking readers on four walks through the four seasons, acclaimed nature writer and farmer John Lewis-Stempel reveals a world bursting with life and normally hidden from view. Out beyond the cities, it is still possible to see the night sky full of stars, or witness a moonbow, an arch of white light in the heavens. 
 
It is time for us to leave our lairs and go tramping. To join our fellow creatures of the night.

This is a small book, yet it conveys memorably the magnitude and majesty of its subject - a charming blend of nature diary, sound archive and scent library. It can even be seen as a kind of dictionary in which, like Byron's nightwandering Manfred, we can learn 'the language of another world'.

He describes the allure of an after dark stroll with typical poetic aplomb...evocative and encouraging

A beautiful little hardback book and wonderful stocking filler for the nature-lover in your life

A worthy addition to a delightful and uplifting series

At night, the normal rules of nature do not apply. In the night wood I have met a badger coming the other way, tipped my cap, said hello. The animals do not expect us humans to be abroad in the dark, which is their time, when the world still belongs to them. 
 
As the human world settles down each evening, nocturnal animals prepare to take back the countryside. Hares box in the ploughfield and bats vortex overhead. Fox cubs tumble in the glow of the waxing moon. 
 
Away from the streetlamps of 'civilization' it is still possible to see jewel-like stars hanging in black velvet skies or witness a moonbow, an arch of white light in the heavens. 
 
Nightwalking takes readers on four atmospheric walks through the seasons. In sparkling prose, John Lewis-Stempel draws us into the shadowlands and reveals a world bursting with life and normally hidden from view. 
 
It is time for us to leave our lairs and go walking. To join the creatures of the night. 
 
£9.99

The Soaring Life of the Lark

"How to describe the ecstatic song of larks? How the writers and poets have tried..." 
 
Skylarks are the heralds of our countryside. Their music is the quintessential sound of spring. The spirit of English pastoralism, they inspire poets, composers and farmers alike. In the trenches of World War I they were a reminder of the chattering meadows of home. 
 
Perhaps you were up with the lark, or as happy as one. History has seen us poeticise and musicise the bird, but also capture and eat them. We watch as they climb the sky, delight in their joyful singing, and yet we harm them too. 
 
 The Soaring life of the Lark explores the music and poetry; the breath-taking heights and struggle to survive of one of Britain's most iconic songbirds. 
 
PRAISE FOR JOHN LEWIS-STEMPEL 
 
'Britain's finest living nature writer' - The Times 
 
'Lewis-Stempel is a fourth-generation farmer gifted with an extraordinary ability to write prose that soars and sings' - Daily Mail

John Lewis-Stempel is a farmer and 'Britain's finest living nature writer' (The Times). His books include the Sunday Times bestsellers 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.

The Wild Life of the Fox

"I adore the fox for its magnificence; I hate the fox for killing my chickens. 
To love and loathe the fox is a British condition." 
 
The fox is our apex predator, our most beautiful and clever killer. We have witnessed its wild touch, watched it slink by bins at night and been chilled by its high-pitched scream. And yet we long to stroke the tumbling cubs outside their tunnel homes and watch the vixen stalk the cornfield. 
 
There is something about foxes. They captivate us like no other species. 
 
Exploring a long and sometimes complicated relationship, The Wild Life of the Fox captures our love – and sometimes loathing – of this magnificent creature in vivid detail and lyrical prose.

Britain’s finest nature writer explores the myths, history and hidden world of the enigmatic animal that stalks our meadows and our city streets alike.

‘I adore the fox for its magnificence; I hate the fox for killing my chickens. 
To love and loathe the fox is a British condition.’ 
 
The fox is our apex predator, our most beautiful and clever killer. We have witnessed its wild touch, watched it slink by bins at night and been chilled by its high-pitched scream. And yet we long to stroke the tumbling cubs outside their tunnel homes and watch the vixen stalk the cornfield. 
 
There is something about foxes. They captivate us like no other species. 
 
Exploring our long, sometimes complicated relationship with this remarkable creature, The Wild Life of the Fox is Vulpes vulpes in vivid detail. 
 
£8.99

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