NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

It's all Robert Macfarlane's fault. I read his book 'The Old Ways' and was spellbound. I reviewed it here.  Apart from his writing about my beloved chalk downland, he also introduced me to two other champions of that special landscape - the artist Eric Ravilious and the author/poet Edward Thomas. Both lived short lives in which their artistry burned brightly. One of the first things that I did after finishing 'The Old Ways' was to buy 'Eric Ravilious: Artist and Designer' a good place to get a flavour of his artistic output. If you look into his work called 'Chalk Paths' you can feel the wind and hear the Skylarks calling overhead. There's most probably a couple of Yellowhammers halfway down the track, just by a stand of last summer's Carline Thistles. This is South Downs country, much more open and barren than my North Downs. Or is it Wiltshire, close to Pewsey Downs? Edward Thomas's 'The South Country' is what I am curr...

I have just finished reading Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways  and it is a book that will long remain with me. The human relationship with the creation and maintenance of pathways is explored, looking through the ages and across the types of land (or sea) affected. The link between walking and thinking is explored. We meet a colourful cast of characters whose lives are woven into the natural world via an intimate understanding of it through the medium of travelling and embracing the landscape around them. The book is also an homage to Edward Thomas, writer and poet who died at the Battle of Arras during the First World War. He lived and wrote about his beloved 'South Country', centred on Hampshire and Kent. Bouts of depression were walked off in the chalky hills and these journeys led to an outpouring of writing prior to, and during, his fateful journey to France. We are also introduced to Eric Ravilious, English water-colourist who, like Thomas, died while on activ...