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"Of Thorn and Briar: A Year With the West Country Hedgelayer" by Paul Lamb
Living in a converted horse box, Paul Lamb travels the south-west of England from Cornwall across to Dorset and Wiltshire, throughout the hedge-laying season which runs from the end of summer through to the start of nesting in the spring, working by hand in all weathers to maintain and restore hedgerows that are often many hundreds of years old.
His debut book, charmingly illustrated with woodcuts by Robin Mackenzie, came out of his popular Instagram account, @westcountry_hedgelayer, and beautifully conveys the rhythm of the seasons as he explains how the British countryside is shaped by these ancient boundaries and ecological treasure troves. It also shines wonderful light on other ancient yet still essential rural crafts and skills. I’ll never now look at a hedge in the same way again.
There are moments in this book where you feel like you’re in the territory of a Thomas Hardy novel. And yet the ancient craft of hedgelaying - still the best way to maintain the health of a hedge in our age of highly mechanised agriculture - is arguably even more vital in the 21st century. Half of our hedgerows were grubbed out in the last century, and of those remaining, 40% are in decline. “When we talk about the push to reinstate biodiversity, it’s a thick, dense, laid hedge that we want” Lamb advises.