This book is a wonderful account of what farming looks like across Britain today. If you are looking for a book about what farmer’s face on a daily basis, the challenges, the heartbreak and at times, the joy, then look no further, you have found the book you will want to read. This book is not a history of farming nor a polemic on why things should or should not be one way or another, it is a nuanced, well informed, warm, and generous look at what it means to be a farmer today and why things are the way they are. As someone who has lived in a rural, farming heavy part of Northumberland for most of my life, I thought that I was well informed as to what farming looks like today, I can now say that I could not have been more mistaken. There is so much information in this book that I had never come across before and knew almost nothing about. I think this is because farming, though it has influences and interactions with a lot of different people and places, is really quite an insular world and I can understand why. Whether it be the media, neighbours, governmental departments, organising bodies and protest groups, most people will have some opinions about farming, farmland, and farmers and what they might or might not be doing right. Its no wonder that as more and more people stick their noses in and regulations and administration have increased over time, people in farming communities look inward. I would imagine that farmers probably do not have the time to go around discussing what they do and how they do it, they are much too busy actually doing it. I came away from this book feeling like I had learned so much and being incredibly impressed by Bathurst’s writing. Her writing is beautifully crafted but with a real lightness of touch, Bathurst really lets the people she is talking with shine through, but her skill in putting this book together and managing to discuss incredibly complex subjects without making the book four times as long as it is, is unmistakable. As a writer, she is warm and generous towards her subjects, never judging or pushing any agendas, she gives the reader all the information they need and then allows the cogs of the mind to turn furiously thinking about all the complex factors at play. Though at times it is disheartening to read about the challenges of farming, the discussion of the foot and moth disease a particularly challenging section, the book is full of wit and brimming with the lives of the many people Bathurst interviewed for this book. This is not a grim read or a solemn book, but it is an excellent read and a book that I will be pressing into the hands of customers. Thank you to Profile books for sending me a copy to review.

Bella Bathurst writes beautifully about the ups and downs of modern day farming. She writes from a personal point of view, and in the farmers own words, describing daily life in farms across Britain. Although she writes of the pressures and trials of life on the farm, it still remains nostalgic and idyllic. I very much enjoyed her writing. Many thanks to the publishers for sending me a copy to review.