A revelatory uncovering of a vanished agricultural way of life by bestselling nature writer Sally Coulthard.'A gem of a book'Country Smallholding'Engaging and filled with gentle humour and fascinating facts'Get History'Shows us the beauty and rich history of everyday things'Country Walking MagazineAcross the foldyard from Sally Coulthard's North Yorkshire farmhouse,stands an old stone barn. When she discovered a set of witches'marks on one of its internal walls,she began to wonder about the lives of the people who had once lived and worked there.Both the intimate story of a building and its hinterland,and a wider social history,The Barn explores a hidden corner of rural Britain that has witnessed remarkable changes. From the eighteenth-century Enclosures to the Second World War,the fortunes of the Barn have been blown,like a leaf in a gale,by the unstoppable forces of new agriculture and industry. Seismic shifts in almost every area of society were all played out here in miniature - against a backdrop of scattered limestone villages and the softly rolling Howardian Hills.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLCISBN: 9781800240865Number of pages: 336Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
Sally Coulthard's beautiful books have shown us the beauty and rich history of everyday things like sheep,bees,hedgehogs,flowers and snow - and now,the humble barnA gem of a book... Not only richly informed about the troubles and tribulations of past lives lived in the shadow of the barn,but of the unstoppable forces of agriculture during a long-gone seismic period of British history(Coulthard) works outwards from small observations and detailed research to create a web of stories,images and ideas about rural history,ancient and modern... This is a history of the'ordinary'people,peppered with surprising facts and personalised talesReadable,fascinating... A very human history,focusing on the people whose lives changed over several centuries as times and technology changed around themEngaging and filled with the gentle humour and fascinating facts that are an integral part of Coulthard's written styleA thoroughly interesting readThe Dalesman's Recommended Read for February 2022The bestselling author of The Bee Bible uncovers the fascinating history of a North Yorkshire barn from the Enclosures of the eighteenth century to the present day in a masterwork of research and non-fiction storytellingAn affectionate celebration of the enduring charm of rural North Yorkshire and a lost agricultural way of lifeAuthor and smallholder Sally Coulthard tracks the history of the ancient stone barn that stands across from her Yorkshire farmhouse and,in turn,the history of the farm,those that have tended it and the country at large across two and a half centuries
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