English Pastoral: An Inheritance - The Sunday Times bestseller from the author of The Shepherd's Life

Product Information

But in spite of it all, he would have no other life, as the sight of a barn owl at dusk or a meadow of wild flowers afford a moment of wonder that make it all worthwhile. English Pastoral concludes with a description of the changes made on Rebanks’s farm in recent years. His bestselling memoir of five years ago, The Shepherd’s Life, told the story of his work with Herdwick sheep, against the backdrop of his unlikely progress from schoolboy dropout to high-flying Oxbridge graduate. Towards the end of this lyrical and passionate book, the farmer James Rebanks describes how he is moving towards producing food using the minimum amount of artificial inputs, such as chemical fertilisers.

Heralded as a 'masterpiece' by the New Statesman , it was shortlisted for the Ondaatje prize, and longlisted for the Rathbones Folio prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. After a while he realised that he was no longer going outside to work because he had to, but because he wanted too. This applies to the Andalusian goat herd and the Lapland reindeer herder, as much as to the Welsh sheep farmer. Three meaty sections follow with the text cleverly broken up into short subsections which are interleafed with direct experiences from the Lake District with the author’s reflections and ideas. And we’re so addicted to cheap food, however dubiously produced, that we spend only a third as much on it as people did in the 1950s.I see farmers starting to work together to make this place even better, finding ways to farm around wilder rivers. Managing to cram the whole modern history of British farming and nature into 270 beautifully written pages, this is a gem that's moving and immensely informative.

Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Sisyphus with a smile … James Rebanks with his Herdwick sheep in Cumbria. Heralded as a 'masterpiece' by the New Statesman, it was shortlisted for the Ondaatje prize, and longlisted for the Rathbones Folio prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. This is a fine book describing the author's love for his Lakeland farm and his efforts to change towards a more sustainable way of farming in contrast with the over-use of chemicals and drastic draining and deforestation of the past.An eloquent, well-informed, and practical Lake District shepherd was a welcome addition to any conversation. His second book, English Pastoral , was also a Top Ten bestseller and was named the Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year. He and his wife, Helen, a quiet pillar of strength, have planted over twelve thousand saplings and created new hedgerows. I think, genuinely, this is the best book I've read this year, and one of the most important books of recent years.

Rebanks may not have made much money out of farming, but happily, both for him and for us, the pen has proved mightier than the sward. The story he tells is one of hard work, little money and narrow horizons, reminiscent of Laurie Lee’s Cider with Rosie but without the adolescent sex and occasional violence. He brings together real evidence for the changes which are already underway and could be the basis for a sustainable foundation for both the landscape and the communities who provide stewardship for the land. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and how the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were lost. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were lost.Rebanks leaves no doubt that the question of how to farm is a question of human survival on this hard-used planet.