A Waterstones Best Book of 2024: Nature Writing The untold story of rural Britain revealed through its artefacts ?'A really lovely, fascinating book. I dived straight into this clever, joyous, celebration of nature, history, and – of course – the countryside.' Charles Spencer, author of The White Ship For most of human history, we were rural folk. Our daily lives were bound up with working the land, living within the rhythm of the seasons. We poured our energies into growing food, tending to animals and watching the weather. Family, friends and neighbours were often one and the same. Life revolved around the village and its key spaces and places – the church, the green, the school and the marketplace. And yet rural life is oddly invisible our historical records. The daily routine of the peasant, the farmer or the craftsperson could never compete with the glamour of city life, war and royal drama. Lives went unrecorded, stories untold. There is, though, one way in which we can learn