Robert Macfarlane’s musings on the British landscape somehow make me feel closer to this country in which I’ve lived for over two decades. He brings to life the windswept coasts and rugged hilltops, the misty valleys and rolling plains that stretch the length and breadth of the UK. He makes me want to go out and tramp around in the mud, even though that is something I would generally never be enticed to do. He makes me really feel the landscape around me

This book is a lovely combination of language and landscape. It consists of essays on various aspects of geography interspersed with glossaries of historical and regional words for aspects of that geography. It’s a deep-dive into how the landscapes and seascapes have been experienced by generations of people living in and with them, and it’s an exploration of the nature writers who have influenced Macfarlane himself. I enjoyed this book, and it’s inspired me to seek out the authors who inspired him.

Further reading…