{"id":23409,"date":"2023-02-06T13:09:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T12:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=23409"},"modified":"2023-02-09T09:39:18","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T08:39:18","slug":"lazy-days-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/2023\/02\/06\/lazy-days-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Lazy days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
March<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Lazy days<\/h2>\n\n

BOOKS \u203a <\/span> TV \u203a <\/span> RADIO \u203a <\/span> FILM \u203a <\/span> LETTERS \u203a <\/span> PUZZLES <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Reviews editors: Margaret Bartlett, Maria Hodson <\/span><\/p>\n\n

BRITAIN\u2019S WILD TREASURES REVEALED<\/h4>\n\n

David Attenborough\u2019s new BBC series shines a light on Britain\u2019s wildlife spectacles <\/p>\n\n

WILD ISLES <\/strong>
BBC ONE AND IPLAYER <\/h5>\n\n
\"\"
Sir David Attenborough visited Skomer in Pembrokeshire in June 2022 to film the island\u2019s charismatic puffins<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The news that Sir David Attenborough, at the grand age of 96, will be presenting a bold new BBC documentary series this spring focused on the wild jewels of Britain, has left us giddy with excitement. From magnificent white-tailed eagles swooping over windswept seas, to butterflies in battle, Wild <\/em>Isles <\/em>promises a feast for the senses. <\/p>\n\n

This ambitious five-episode documentary series, filmed in Britain over the past three years, focuses on the wealth of wildlife and habitat to be found on our isles. The programme uses cutting-edge filming techniques to capture extraordinary footage of nature in the raw, from ancient oak woodlands and rare hay meadows to seabird breeding colonies and precious chalk streams. After an introductory episode about British wildlife, the next episodes focus on four key habitats: woodland, grassland, marine and freshwater. <\/p>\n\n

While Britain and Ireland have some of the most diverse and beautiful landscapes on Earth, our wildlife is increasingly fragmented and fragile; this series explains the challenges nature faces, and what can be done to make these isles even wilder in the future. <\/p>\n\n

Sir David says: \u201cIn my long lifetime, I have travelled to almost every corner of our planet. I can assure you that in the British Isles, as well as astonishing scenery there are extraordinary animal dramas and wildlife spectacles to match anything I have seen on my global travels.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Look out for the beautifully illustrated accompanying book, Wild Isles <\/em>by Patrick Barkham and Alastair Fothergill (William Collins, \u00a325), available this month. <\/p>\n\n

NEXT MONTH: Our Wild Isles <\/em>feature <\/p>\n\n

\n\n
BOOK <\/h5>\n\n

THE QUIET MOON <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

BY KEVIN PARR, THE HISTORY PRESS, \u00a314.99 (PB) <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

This is a beguiling piece of writing with a rare warts-and-all-honesty about mental health, nature and life. Built around a central focus of a year through the lens of the ancient Celtic calendar and its poetically named moons, Kevin Parr explores his life-long struggles with depression in an open, brave manner. The lunar cycle has long been thought to impact on mental health \u2013 think \u2018lunacy\u2019 \u2013 so it\u2019s an engaging premise blending a bit of detective work about the little-known Celts with Parr\u2019s own darknesses. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Very few of us are without anxiety or fear and Parr\u2019s acute descriptions of how he tackles his demons (or not) offer profound human comfort. It\u2019s all wrapped in amiable musings about history, culture, politics, conservation and so much more. <\/p>\n\n

But it\u2019s Parr\u2019s vivid observation and symbiosis with his local nature in Dorset \u2013 particularly his reptiles \u2013 that bring the extra magic. He\u2019s a true naturalist, exploring theories, watching for hours on end and completely immersing himself in the rhythms of day, month and season. Bad weather should be embraced for its moods and sensory experiences. He finds beauty, wonder and sadness. But most of all, a form of solace and connection with \u201can ancient way of being\u201d, which involves acceptance rather than regret or guilt. <\/p>\n\n

Fergus Collins, editor <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
The Celts named each full moon of the year <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n\n
BOOK<\/h5>\n\n

NEXT TO NATURE <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

BY RONALD BLYTHE, JOHN MURRAY, \u00a325 (HB) <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

If the 20th century was the age of the car, it\u2019s remarkable that the Akenfield <\/em> author Ronald Blythe, who died in January this year, managed to navigate his own 100 years without learning to drive. Even more remarkable, given that his home was at the end of a rutted track near Wormingford on the Suffolk-Essex border where Blythe lived, car-free and computerless, for 45 years. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

This rooted, analogue existence, where Ipswich is \u201cas unreachable as Rome\u201d, granted Blythe half a lifetime to meditate on the countryside encircling Bottengoms, the Tudor farmhouse bequeathed him by the painter John Nash. Next <\/em>to <\/em>Nature, <\/em>published in Blythe\u2019s centenary year, is an anthology of these meditations. Drawn from the weekly column he wrote for the Church <\/em>Times, <\/em>the essays weave Blythe\u2019s observations of the natural world with the observances of the religious calendar \u2013 farming and feast days being closely aligned. <\/p>\n\n

Though parochial in theme, the book\u2019s range is global. Great writers, artists and thinkers feature alongside the flora and fauna (human and bestial) on the author\u2019s East Anglian doorstep. Blythe\u2019s typewriter turns from haymaking to Hale-Bopp, nightingales to the Napoleonic Wars, scything to Solzhenitsyn, bees to Beowulf, <\/em>with the same forensic attention. <\/p>\n\n

We don\u2019t learn much about the emotional life of one of our greatest authors, but nor do we need to. Instead we have a precious extended love letter \u2013 adecades-long relationship between a man and his secluded loop of the Stour Valley. <\/p>\n\n

Gail Simmons, nature writer <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Lauded as one of Britain\u2019s greatest nature writers, Ronald Blythe published his latest book just months before he died <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n\n
BOOK <\/h5>\n\n

SPRING RAIN <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

BY MARC HAMER, HARVILL SECKER, \u00a316.99 (HB) <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

As life affirming as its title, Spring Rain<\/em> is the third in Marc Hamer\u2019s trilogy of books exploring the threads that weave between land, love and memory. Writer, gardener and sometime mole catcher, as recounted in A Life in Nature, or How to Catch a Mole, <\/em>Marc Hamer has had a peripatetic life, from the north of England to Wales, from railway worker to artist, gardener to life writer. This is not a book about gardening or landscape, or even a biography, but about the relationships we all build with the world around us, and the childhood we carry within. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

In alternating explorations of past and present, Spring <\/em>Rain <\/em>recalls Hamer\u2019s unsettled childhood and embeds it within his present contentment, finding fulfilment and freedom through the natural world. Animals and plants recur as events and observations: \u201cTiny sounds, tiny smells, tiny sensations\u201d, the heightened awareness of being alone in nature, the muddy puddle a young boy sails across, wolfsbane and foxglove that deal in death, a wren flitting through shadows. <\/p>\n\n

Age, or more specifically ageing, creep into the story as the book nears its end, but creation is a continuous thread. \u201cLife,\u201d Hamer observes, \u201cis infinitely creative \u2013 gardening is the same as painting, as writing, as dancing. The garden I made is this book, this book I write is a garden.\u201d And it is a garden we should all visit. <\/p>\n\n

Twigs Way, garden historian <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"
Author Julie Brominicks spent many months walking the Welsh coastline <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
BOOK <\/h5>\n\n

THE EDGE OF CYMRU <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

BY JULIE BROMINICKS, SEREN, \u00a312.99 (HB) <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The Edge of Cymru <\/em>is a delightful part-travelogue and part-exploration of Welsh culture and history. <\/p>\n\n

The travelogue elements burst with beautiful, descriptive prose, which h picks up the minutia of <\/span>each moment in a way reminiscent of Paul Theroux (albeit with less dry wit but infinitely more warmth). At times I could see myself right beside her, sheltering from coastal winds or walking through depressed Y Rhyl, wondering how it fell so hard from grace. <\/p>\n\n

After the initial year of walking, Julie took 10 years to research the book and this is apparent on every page. The book charts Welsh history backwards, from Devolution, through industrialisation, back into Norman, Saxon and Roman times and beyond, with everything in between. This helps the reader understand how Wales, throughout its history, has walked a tightrope. At times it stood as a fierce, proud independent nation and at others it suffered oppression from its more powerful neighbour. <\/p>\n\n

These non-fiction elements entwine seamlessly with the personal prose, without ever feeling clunky or tagged on. The depth of research reminded me of the books of Jerad Diamond and Yuval Harari. Brominicks skilfully examines broad social, environmental, political, economic and even geological changes without the book feeling dry. <\/p>\n\n

Considering the breadth and depth of the subject matter, this remains easy to read at all times. It is as accessible as a novel and would make a great holiday read as much as a bedside book. <\/p>\n\n

Dave Hamilton, author and explorer <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\n\n
TV <\/h5>\n\n

ROBSON GREEN\u2019S<\/strong> WEEKEND ESCAPES<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
BBC TWO AND IPLAYER <\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Actor Robson Green showcases the stunning landscapes of his home turf \u2013 England\u2019s north-east \u2013 in this delightful new 15-episode BBC series. Robson\u2019s family and friends join him on a series of two-day escapes designed to ease stress and boost wellbeing, from cold-water swimming to cycling coastal paths, riding zip wires through the forest and journeying on a steam train. <\/p>\n\n

Robson takes on a Go Ape course with his uncle and brother, attempts to share a paddleboard with footballer Les Ferdinand and visits Helmsley Walled Garden with Lioness Jill Scott. Life-affirming and inspiring viewing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Photos: Getty, BBC Pictures, Craig Easton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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