My Body is a Meadow: Finding Freedom in the Outdoors

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 WAINWRIGHT NATURE WRITING PRIZE

Urgent and beautiful, this book shows how our treatment of disability mirrors our treatment of nature. Essential reading' ― Katherine May, author of Wintering

'Enlightening, energetic, challenging and essential ... this book should be required reading for everyone' ― Katriona O'Sullivan, author of Poor and Hungry

Since childhood, Bethany Handley has always felt most at home out in the wilds of the Welsh countryside. This all changed when Bethany became a full-time wheelchair user in her twenties and suddenly found herself padlocked out of the landscapes she belonged to.

Today, nearly one in four people are Disabled in the UK. Yet, public rights of way are blocked in 32,000 places across England and Wales. My Body is a Meadow writes into this troubling landscape, delivering a galvanising call for us to rethink how we live among nature and each other.

Join Bethany as she wheels through the British countryside exploring ableism, climate justice and what nature means to her. On this journey we discover the feral boar of the Forest of Dean; how the metal and rubber of a wheelchair can become just as much a part of your body as skin and bone; why swifts rarely land and how maps tell a story of exclusion. Exploring how land ownership, privatised healthcare, biodiversity loss and social marginalisation intertwine, Bethany shows why we must learn from nature's model of shared survival - and urges us to work together to make it open for all.

'A passionate call for an inclusive countryside - nature for all and all for nature' ― Jack Cornish, author of The Lost Paths

'A change making book' ― Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean

'A stunning exploration of longing for freedom, finding a home in your body and walking your own path in life' ― Pippa Stacey, author of How to Do Life with a Chronic Illness