English Pastoral

…An Inheritance

By James Rebanks

James grew up in the Lake District and this book tells the tale of his family farms, from the time of his grandfather to his dad to himself at the helm. He talks of the memories that he has of helping his grandfather who was still farming ‘the old way’ when he was a child. He describes fields teeming with wildlife and tractors so compact that the driver could spot the ground nesting birds and go around them.

He tells of his dad’s frustration with his grandfather ‘stuck in the past’ and then his own frustrations with his dad’s ‘old ways’ having experienced modern farming on a massive scale in Australia. Then of how they switched to conventional farming, going bigger and ‘better’ with chemicals and large machinery, until they start to wonder where the birds went.

Eventually James and his dad start to wonder whether grandfather was on to something, and gradually turn towards the traditional ways of farming and witnessed the return of the wildlife.

The book is written like a tale that evokes a beautiful landscape, the sudden increased frenzy and demands of farming and the need to slow the pace down in order for the land to provide for us, wildlife and the environment.