Tom Cox has a relaxed and engaging style perfectly suited to this rambling meditation about his familiar walking routes. He takes interesting diversions as he ponders on the fate of nature, family relationships and life itself. He recognises that an eye for tiny details, thoughtful analysis of landscape and the elements, encourages engagement with existential questioning and can give us all a better connection with the world we are privileged to exist in. At times his writing flows beautifully, conjuring up the contours of the hillsides and vistas that he describes. Like many 'new nature' books it can be dipped into often and will reveal more each time. Is it better than being there... perhaps a question better saved for a day of horizontal rain and howling gales, from which the book might be a great escape.

Goodreads review below -

I enjoyed spending time with Tom and his family. I'm using his first name already!
And that's what this book felt like - a series of conversations about Tom's World.
And I have to say his world can sometimes be a little strange (scarecrow obsession?) but always very entertaining. In lesser hands a book such as this could become mere ramblings, but with Tom we usually see where he is going - even though his thoughts twist and turn.

I loved the mixture of personal memoir, local history, nature and walking. His tribute to his much loved Liverpool born Nan was very touching.

Tom has a huge sense of place. His surroundings and where he defines 'home' are hugely important to him. He doesn't have a 9 to 5 job taking him away from a house or village each day. So his home, also his workplace, becomes all encompassing, maybe to an excessive extent.

When I started reading I did assume Tom was a young man, possibly in his late 20s or early 30s. There was a naivety about him - and I was very surprised later on to work out he was actually in his 40s.
I also realised that his Leftie, Green, Hippy tousled haired persona was carefully cultivated. I often felt we weren't really getting the real Tom although there were hints - maybe he is nowhere near as 'interesting'?

What stops me giving the book a higher marking is the constant repetition - he must tell us a dozen times that he moved from East Anglia to Devon.
I also found his VERY LOUD DAD an irritant especially the constant TALKING IN CAPITALS. Quite amusing at first but it soon wore very thin.

Many thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this work.

I'm sorry, I couldn't give this book the time, enthusiasm and compassion it needed.

Sorry, this one just isn't for me. I think you might need to know the local area well to be interested in this book.

This isn’t my usual kind of book but I love the author on twitter and have enjoyed his other cat based books immensely. This was beautifully written and took me on a journey unlike any other. His love of nature and the countryside shines through and his unique view makes this a superb book.