A Year at Bottengoms Farm

by Ronald Blythe

These mini essays reflect on the natural landscape, the changing seasons, village life, art, poetry, the stories that ancient churches tell, and the Christian year. They refresh one's vision of one's own daily routine and surroundings and can be read over and over again, like poetry.

Genres: Essays, Memoir, British Literature

Hardcover

First published September 27, 2006

About the author

Ronald Blythe CBE was one of the UK's greatest living writers. His work, which won countless awards, includes Akenfield (a Penguin 20th-Century Classic and a feature film), Private Words, Field Work, Outsiders: A Book of Garden Friends and numerous other titles. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded their prestigious Benson Medal in 2006. In 2017, he was appointed CBE for services to literature

Reviews

[JimZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The description of this book on this site is accurate and reflects what the book is about. A nice quiet read, chapters go from January to December and the change of the seasons and the Christian liturgical church year.

[Karen Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, what joy to discover that Ronald Blythe has written a lot more books than I realized! The mini-essays in this book are from Blythe's column "Word from Wormingford" in the "Church Times." I came away with an extensive To-Be-Read list, for which I am very grateful, the joy of meeting old friends and finding new ones, and a new understanding of Paul's Letter to Philemon. Paul is not sending Onesimus back to Philemon as his slave, but heaping coals of fire (as the saying goes) on Philemon's head. Onesimus is now my child, part of me, Paul says, treat him as you would me. In other words, if you don't free him you are no Christian.

[Alison Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love his stories. One day I need to read with google next to me to find out about all the names he mentions - some are familiar, some are not (not that it interferes in my enjoyment). Lovely.

[Robert Newell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally enjoy Blythe's books and i enjoyed parts of this very much. However it is a very disjointed read, partly by default that it is a collection of diary writings and Word from Wormingford articles he has written in The Church Times. It makes it a difficult book to read and some of the entries I ended up skipping through. There are some really good parts and Blythe's humour comes through, but overall not his best work.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with the reviewer who described this book as being comprised of 'exquisite mini-essays'. Absolutely delightful.