Men and the Fields

The drawings of John Nash perfectly match the country scene as described by Adrian Bell in this highly acclaimed portrait. In chronicling the life of the fields the author, with a sure touch and in beautiful prose, evokes a bygone world of farmers and shepherds, land owners and countrymen.

A New Year's Eve party in an old farmhouse yields a host of memories. As the year's hours grow fewer, the older people do the talking, the younger ones listen, and an England far older than the passing year is resurrected. One old lady tells of how the river was used for bringing chalk and coal to the farms. Another storyteller recalls how they used to go to Christmas parties in the country when he was a child. And so on, through the months of the year - the seasons unfolding in a highly personalised way as man and nature come together in a book to keep and to treasure.