Book description
Colin Elford's A Year in the Woods is an enthralling journey
into the heart of the English countryside.
With a preamble by Craig Taylor.
Colin Elford spends his days alone - alone but for the deer, the
squirrels, the rabbits, the birds, and the many other creatures
inhabiting the woods.
From the crisp cold of January, through the promise of spring and
the heat of summer, and then into damp autumn and the chill winds of
winter, we accompany the forest-ranger as he goes about his work -
stalking in the early morning darkness, putting an injured fallow buck
out of its misery, watching stoats kill a hare, observing owls, and
simply being a part of the outdoors.
'This is nature for real . . . Elford describes woodland wonders in
short paragraphs of luminous intensity' Daily Mail
'A poetic insight in the world of hidden Nature' Countryman
'Stalking sharpens the senses and there is an almost hallucinatory
clarity to Elford's writing' Observer
'Refreshingly unsentimental. Contains some wonderful descriptions
and sentences which are so profound they demand a second reading'
Sunday Express
Colin Elford is a forest ranger on the Dorset/Wiltshire border.
Craig Taylor is the author of Return to Akenfield and One
Million Tiny Plays About Britain and the editor of the magazine
Five Dials.
Colin Elford is a forest ranger on the Dorset/Wiltshire border.
The manuscript version of his diary found its way to Hamish Hamilton
via his neighbour, the angling writer Chris Yates.
Craig Taylor is the author of Return to Akenfield and One
Million Tiny Plays About Britain and the editor of the magazine
Five Dials.
