Country Matters: A Countryside Companion, from Chickens and Chainsaws to Meadows and Mushrooming

By Meg Clothier

Published Jun 2023

How do you catch a mole? Or sneak through a field of cows?

Do we give our soil enough love?

Who shoots what – when, where and why?

And do you have the worst-behaved dog in the village?

In this delightful and eye-opening book, Meg Clothier and her father, Jonny, offer answers to these and many other questions. Combining decades of practical know-how with a passion for literature and lore, braced by a keen understanding of the conundrums of the countryside, together they unlock the culture and practice of our great outdoors.

From meadows and moorland to footpaths, forests and farms, Country Matters brings the world beyond our towns and cities – its pleasures and perplexities, its dilemmas and delights – to entertaining and illuminating life.

Like many a country child before her, Meg Clothier ran away to town to seek her fortune, leaving her father, Jonny Clothier, to fulfil his own dream of turning twenty acres of old sheep pasture into a woodland paradise.

Five years ago, after working as a journalist in London and Moscow, Meg came back west with her own family, and Jonny is now busy teaching her the ropes. She can dig out a septic tank and back a tractor and trailer uphill, but somehow her trees never fall quite straight. Still, Jonny’s glad she’s back home and throwing herself into country living.

This is Jonny’s first book and Meg’s fifth. His favourite of hers is Sea Fever, a love letter to buoys, bowlines, boats and beaches, which she wrote with her brother, Chris.