(10 December 2005)

Needing respite after a bad year culminating in a mugging, Adam Nicolson and Sarah Raven determine to find a place in which they can nestle down and hide from the world. Having searched all over the country (as an ex-fellow Weald dweller, I smiled at “even East Kent”), they find Perch Hill, an unprepossessing collection of shabby farm buildings and poor land, but tucked into a beautiful, almost magical valley in Kipling country.

Their concerns may be the same as in any other “giving it all up and going to live in the country” narrative – hateful chickens, dim sheep, hard lessons, collapsing buildings, neighbours good and bad – but because it’s written by this author, we get wonderful writing that you can enjoy for its own sake as well as for the sake of the narrative, precise descriptions, emotional depth and a deep, abiding sense of his love of the English landscape and land, and in addition, it’s often very funny (I was constantly reading bits out to Mr Liz).

A worthwhile and enjoyable re-read as I had half forgotten that I owned this book, and remembered the feel of it (except at the very beginning) but not the detail. One of the great narratives of countryside living. ( )