Landskipping: Painters, Ploughmen and Places - Hardcover

Pavord, Anna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1408868911 ISBN 13: 9781408868911

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

In Landskipping, Anna Pavord explores some of Britain's most iconic landscapes in the past, in the present, and in literature. With her passionate, personal, and lyrical style, Pavord considers how different artists and agriculturists have responded to these environments. Like the author's previous book The Tulip, Landskipping is as sublime and picturesque as its subject.

Landskipping features an eclectic mix of locations, both ecologically and culturally significant, such as the Highlands of Scotland, the famous landscapes of the Lake District, and the Celtic hill forts of the West Country. These are some of the most recognizable landscapes in all of Britain. Along the way, Pavord annotates her fascinating journey with evocative descriptions of the country's natural beauty and brings to life travelers of earlier times who left fascinating accounts of their journeys by horseback and on foot through the most remote corners of the British Isles.

About this title

About the Author

Anna Pavord is the gardening correspondent for the Independent and the author of nine previous books, including the bestselling The Tulip and The Naming of Names. She wrote for the Observer for twenty years and has contributed to a number of magazines, both in the U.S. and the UK. She lectures regularly in the States and in the UK hosts programs for BBC Radio 3 and 4. For ten years, she chaired the Gardens Panel of the National Trust and sat on the Parks and Gardens Panel of English Heritage. For the last forty years she has lived in Dorset, England.

Review

"A personal meditation on the nature of our British countryside that expands progressively to encompass a far broader view." ―The Times "A book to look forward to in 2016"

"Anna Pavord, a perennial pleasure of the Independent since its launch . . . Anyone who loves the variety and idiosyncrasies of the British countryside will relish in this poignant celebration." ―The Independent

"[A] winning study of English landscape." ―BBC Countryfile

"In her rangey, deeply felt and sometimes luminous book . . . Pavord uses a personal and subjective approach to readdress, with attractive honesty, questions that are far from resolved . . . Like the raking light that exposes ancient lynchets at sunset, such knowledge brings out new detail in the one particular view over a gate which Pavord has loved in all seasons, and which she now evokes for us as it changes through a full year. From the vantage point of this ending, I look back and find that the mixed landscape of the whole book is cast in a very beautiful light." ―The Guardian

"Pavord writes thoughtfully, with deep and wide-ranging knowledge, of the land and what grows on it, of art, literature and the history of taste. And she writes from the heart--the heart of a countrywoman as well as the country-lover . . . The fruit of genuine observation, described with straining for effect, it’s a wonderful piece of writing--one of many in this superb, heartfelt and illuminating book." ―Literary Review

"This book--a lyrical defence of . . . landscape, its language, and its freedom from meddling by various agencies--is a real pleasure." ―Mail on Sunday

"A love song to the British countryside in all its forms . . . Part travel guide, part travel lesson." ―Sunday Post

"Terrific . . . [Pavord] is more down-to-earth than any Romantic moper . . . Observation, without an ounce of ego, is one of the things that make this book so good." ―The Spectator

"[An] inspiring overview." ―Sunday Express

"A thoughtful and deeply personal account . . . Pavord’s writing is pure delight--elegant, observant and funny . . . As much celebration as polemic." - Gardens Illustrated

"[A] wonderful book . . . There are echoes of Robert Louis Stevenson in the book’s companionably irreverent tone and of Laurie Lee in its lyricism, but Pavord’s own voice, direct and witty, is strongest of all . . . A graceful, airy narrative that ends where it began, on a Welsh mountainside and with a final gesture. ‘I cast my mother’s ashes into the wind,’ she concludes, ‘and waited silently as they whirled out over the glittering valley.’" - Barnes & Noble Review

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1408868911
• ISBN 13: 9781408868911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272