The January Man: How Walking Helped Me Overcome Grief

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Christopher Somerville: How walking helped me connect with my father

The Private Life of Britain’s Cathedrals

Ships Of Heaven

The author of the acclaimed The January Man walks across Britain again to tell the stories of his favourite cathedrals, not as a guidebook, but as a voyage of discovery across the ages. 'Entrancing' - SPECTATOR 'Vivid and stylish' - THE TIMES.

Writing about the spirit of place is sometimes like nailing jelly to the wall, but Somerville's thoughtful, occasionally poetic prose hits the spot for a book that sets out to define the genius loci of these magnificent buildings.

Cathedrals are all things to all people. ... To capture all this, vividly and stylishly, in one, not-very-long book suggests something close to divine inspiration ... Yet it’s not the breadth of his travels that impresses. You can buy many a glossy gazetteer that gives you the tourist spiel on dozens more British cathedrals than the 20 he covers. Rather, it’s the depth of the “cathedral experience” that he uncovers by the old-fashioned journalistic method of getting knowledgeable people to talk freely about what they know best, then using his sharp eyes and wits to fill in the rest of the story.

[Christopher Somerville's] writing is utterly enticing

[A] friendly wander around twenty-one British Cathedrals, Christopher Somerville, the walking correspondent of The Times, passes the hard test giving life to buildings that most readers have never visited…He provides many human faces to the cathedrals he visits…I hope he inspires readers to go for themselves

Cathedrals are perhaps Christianity's greatest modern ambassadors in these islands: welcoming portals to experiences and emotions beyond everyday concerns.  Christopher Somerville is a genial companion as far as the remotest among these glorious communities, and charmingly opens the private doors at which visitors cast speculative glances.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church, University of Oxford

Christopher is a great storyteller and he has found many and various tales associated with the cathedrals to savour. The past is represented by inscriptions on memorials, cathedral records, dramas from the past and quite a few scandals.  Interspersed with these engaging evocations are precisely worded observations about the architectural ‘feel’ of the cathedrals as places. One benefits from his longstanding experience as a professional walker with a gift of writing poetically about landscape.  This is not a conventional architectural guide, more a personal and intuitive response to experiencing what should be recognised as our most important architectural heritage - altogether a most enjoyable read.

Lively and engaging: I do admire Christopher Somerville’s ability to blend historical detail with keen observations of the current life of our cathedrals

Fascinatingly informative reading... It might even convince the sceptic of the continuing importance - and relevance - of the 'Ships of Heaven', and their role in 21st Century society. I heartily recommend this book.

There are plenty of books on Britain's Cathedrals...but 'Ships of Heaven' is a bit different...It's a book of stories about the people who have given the buildings their character through the ages and those who cherish them today.

Rev William Howard, Secretary of the Friends of Coventry Cathedral

Somerville is one of our finest gazetteers of the British countryside, as his numerous books and articles testify. He must have walked more of these isles than just about any other living writer, and he brings his formidable knowledge to bear on his personal quest to explore the cathedrals — a quest that began when, as a boy, he leaned so far back to admire the facade of Wells cathedral that he fell over and was left gazing at the sky. Across which the heavy galleons of these magnificent medieval creations have now sailed in this entrancing book.

Somerville regales us with things temporal and spiritual, with tales of saints and deadly sins in abundance, of glass-makers, masons, cleaners and clergy - because a cathedral is a lively part of unfolding human history.

Christopher Somerville paints word pictures of exquisite quality, catching 21 cathedrals’ oddities and peculiarities and sheer glory.

Meeting believers and non-believers, architects and archaeologists, the cleaner who dusts the monuments and the mason who judges stone by its taste, we delve deep into the private lives and the uncertain future of these ever-voyaging Ships of Heaven.

Christopher Somerville is the walking correspondent of The Times. He is one of Britain’s most respected and prolific travel writers, with forty-two books, hundreds of newspaper articles and many TV and radio appearances to his name. 
He lives in Bristol.

‘Somerville is one of our finest gazetteers of the British countryside. He brings his formidable knowledge to bear on his personal quest to explore the cathedrals in this entrancing book’ 
The Spectator 
 
Christopher Somerville, author of the acclaimed The January Man, pictured cathedrals as great unmoving bastions of tradition. But as he journeys among Britian’s favourites, old and new, he discovers buildings and communities that have been in constant upheaval for a thousand years. Here are stories of the monarchs and bishops who ordered the construction of these buildings, the masons whose genius brought them into being, and the peasants who worked and died on the scaffolding. We learn of rogue saints exploited by holy sinners, the pomp and prosperity that followed these ships of stone, the towns that grew up in their shadows. 
 
Meeting believers and non-believers, architects and archaeologists, the cleaner who dusts the monuments and the mason who judges stone by its taste, we delve deep into the private lives and the uncertain future of these ever-voyaging Ships of Heaven. 
 
‘Somerville paints word pictures of exquisite quality’ 
Church Times

Walking in Ireland

A comprehensive guide to the fifty most stunning walks in northern and southern Ireland for all levels of ability – from gentle strolls to long hikes – by one of the UK's finest travel writers

Walking has never been a more popular pastime and nowhere is more beautiful for walkers to explore than Ireland. In this beautifully written and superbly researched guide, Christopher Somerville draws on his very popular column for the Irish Independent, to present 50 of the very best walks in Ireland - from the Nephin Beg Mountains in Mayo to Dingle Way in Kerry. Practical instructions for the walks are married with evocative and informative passages on the history, flora and fauna, culture and topography of the land. Whether it's exploring the Burren in its floral glory or seeing the Walls of Derry, or even sitting at home in your armchair planning your next walk, this book will prove popular with ramblers, holiday makers and anyone who loves the Irish landscape.

A Year of Walking Britain

The January Man

From The Times' much-loved walking columnist, a lyrical record of a year walking the British Isles while exploring the nature of his relationship with his father

This is nature at its most embracing; human nature richly-woven into the cycle of the seasons and the ecologies of father and son, observed with the passion and learning of Britain’s favourite walker. A truly wonderful, uplifting book, bursting with life.

Christopher Somerville's THE JANUARY MAN has taken me on such a happy journey. I have experienced every type of weather, and walked until my feet are very sore; I have learnt many ancient stories, and stopped to notice the crows, the gulls, the geese, not to mention moss, flowers and clouds. I have thought about churches, pubs, morris men, farming, mud, rain, boots, badgers, apples, climate change - as well as growing older. All this from the comfort of my chair in the kitchen. And of course in thinking about all these things, I have also thought about my own place in the world, and the things I love. I have thought about my dad too and his final years. By the time I came to the end, I was crying. 
 
It is a wise, entertaining, kind book - one that makes you want to walk and want to read. The language is taut, beautiful, sparky and generous. It’s a book not just for walkers or nature lovers, but anyone who loves a good plain story.

Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

A delightful, poetical hotchpotch...three parts nature notes to one part history lesson, one part personal memoir and one part loving salute to his late father...Somerville is a great wordsmith and could write about mud and make it interesting...he supplies a bumper draught of inspiration to visit some enticing, intriguing corners of Britain.

BOOK OF THE WEEK ... Like all the best nature writers, he's able to evoke an entire landscape with the lightest of touches.

This is the kind of book that will make you ache to leave the Tube or train at the very next stop and make for that distant ridge, that glimpsed wood.

How good is it to read a nature memoir that is not a study in misery? … For a writer, the highest compliment he or she can pay another writer is envy. And I was green on reading The January Man. It’s not just Somerville's knowledge, it’s the truth and clarity in his prose – which is like the pure tone that comes from a tuning fork.

John Lewis-Stempel, author of Meadowland and The Running Hare

The January Man is a book that makes you want to pull on your boots, grab a map and get out there ... [Somerville] has the enviable power of noticing and describing details so beautifully: the subtle but once captured so distinct, variations of yellow in spring flowers; the way a kingfisher's garb - iridescent blue and copper in the sunshine, green and brown in the shadows - gives it the power of discretion ... This is a gentle, thoughtful narrative about the nature of relationships ...love opened up through the mutual experience of the power of place, enjoyed on foot.

A goldmine of historical nuggets and walking inspiration

This inspiring book tells the story of a year of walking across the British Isles...Evocatively written, with charming snippets of childhood memories... Somerville explains how walking the countryside shaped him as an adult... Touching on his father's Second World War experiences and stoic nature, Somerville seeks to discover the man inside the man. Poignantly highlights the power walking has in forging close relationships and enabling communication, this heart-warming walker's diary proves real inspiration to exploring Britain on foot.

Christopher Somerville’s moving, measured and immaculate The January Man is part walker’s diary, part celebration of his reticent yet loving father, and part... well, anything that takes his fancy and ours. But most of all it is a tender rumination on the One Big Thing that troubles all of us when we put on our hiking boots – and that’s mortality.

A rich and wonderful book which draws on Christopher Somerville’s unusually deep knowledge of Britain’s hidden pathways.

Hugh Thomson, author of 'The Green Road into the Trees'

Editor's Choice: a beguiling blend of memoir, travel and nature writing.

A terrific and touching read. The January Man is a combination of natural and human history and somehow manages to be both light- and slightly heavy-hearted... amusing but almost mystical in places too, which is a pretty incredible feat to pull off.

Brilliantly descriptive of the British landscape and wildlife across the seasons, from fields to coasts, along lanes and byways, it is interwoven with stories of local people, traditions, customs and thoughts on history, culture and geography. Walker or armchair traveller, it’s a pleasure to read. 
.

A thrilling read ... exquisitely poignant

The author's gaze is on the world around him, especially its natural history ... his skill at describing just what he sees is remarkable ... a very British account of a father-son relationship and more moving for its restraint and light touch.

This finely observed and evocative book is a celebration of the power of walking to discover emotional, as well as physical, landscapes.

A delightful, poetical hotchpotch of a book. It's part nature notes, part history lesson, as well as memoir and loving salute to his late father. . . Somerville is a great wordsmith.

Top 10 Books About Walking in Britain - The book tenderly blends memoir with descriptions of nature and the passing of the seasons.

'Evocatively written and charming' - Countryfile 
'The January Man is a book that makes you want to pull on your boots, grab a map and get out there' - Country Life 
 
The January Man is the story of a year of walks that was inspired by a song, Dave Goulder's 'The January Man'. Month by month, season by season and region by region, Christopher Somerville walks the British Isles, following routes that continually bring his father to mind. 
 
As he travels the country - from the winter floodlands of the River Severn to the lambing pastures of Nidderdale, the towering seabird cliffs on the Shetland Isle of Foula in June and the ancient oaks of Sherwood Forest in autumn - he describes the history, wildlife, landscapes and people he encounters, down back lanes and old paths, in rain and fair weather. 
 
This exquisitely written account of the British countryside not only inspires us to don our boots and explore the 140,000 miles of footpaths across the British Isles, but also illustrates how, on long-distance walks, we can come to an understanding of ourselves and our fellow walkers. 
 
Over the hills and along the byways, Christopher Somerville examines what moulded the men of his father's generation - so reticent about their wartime experiences, so self-effacing, upright and dutiful - as he searches for 'the man inside the man' that his own father really was.

Christopher Somerville

[Somerville's] infectious enthusiasm and wry humour infuse his journey from the Isle of Lewis to southern England, revealing our rich geological history with vibrant local and natural history.

For someone who hated geology lessons at school, barely able to stay awake during discussions of laminated rhyolites and tuffaceous breccias, Christopher Somerville has made up for this with aplomb and vivid readability. To have tramped more than 1,000 miles from the sea stacks of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, where in fiery days gone by more than 3,000 million years ago the landscape was literally set in stone, and reach the silty clay of Wallasea Island in Essex is a remarkable achievement. By focusing on the best bits of geological interest along the way such as Arthur's Seat in once volcanic Edinburgh, the sandstone crags of the Pennine Way and the chalky Chilterns, he provides an illuminating new take on the British landscape. Encounters, warm humour, history and plenty of geology (Carboniferous periods, Permian periods, Zechstein Seas, no less) carry you down the winding tracks.

Tom Chesshyre, author of Lost in the Lakes

Rambling alongside the tirelessly energetic Christopher Somerville from the comfort of my armchair is a joy. 
In Walking the Bones Someville is the perfect travelling companion. Knowledgeable and observant, he picks up the stories of the paths he walks along in much the same way as he illuminates the stones which are under his feet, holding them up for us to see, and then returning them to the path, for the next curious traveller to find. A meticulous exploration of the ground beneath our feet. Glorious.&quot;

Katharine Norbury, author of The Fish Ladder and Women on Nature

An ideal gift for any walking enthusiast who wants to know more.

Walking the Bones of Britain demystifies our daunting geology on a nine-month journey laced with humour and history.

A 3 Billion Year Journey from the Outer Hebrides to the Thames Estuary

Travelling a thousand miles and across three billion years, Christopher Somerville, author of The January Man and Ships of Heaven, sets out to discover how the land beneath our feet shapes our past, our present and our future. 
 
Taking a journey of a thousand miles, Christopher Somerville begins in the far north, at the three-billion-year-old rocks of the Isle of Lewis, formed when the world was still molten, and travels south-eastwards to the furthest corner of Essex, where new land is being formed. Crossing bogs, scaling peaks and skirting quarry pits, he unearths the stories bound up in the layers of rock beneath our feet, and examines how they have influenced everything from how we farm to how we build our houses, from the Industrial Revolution to the current climate crisis. 
 
Told with characteristic humour and insight, this gripping exploration of the British landscape and its remarkable history cannot fail to change the way you see the world beyond your door. 
 
&lsquo;Somerville is a walker&rsquo;s writer&rsquo; Nicholas Crane

Christopher Somerville

Books by Christopher Somerville

Articles featuring Christopher Somerville

Christopher Somerville: How walking helped me connect with my father

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