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Down in the Valley: A Writer's Landscape
'Living in our valley was like broad beans in a pod, so snug and enclosed and protective.'
Laurie Lee left his childhood home in the Cotswolds when he was nineteen, but it remained with him throughout his life, until, many years later, he returned for good.
In this never before published collection, Laurie Lee guides us through his home landscape around Slad in Gloucestershire, and the memories of his youth there. Down in the Valley bring to life the sights, sounds and traditions of his home - from his favourite pub, The Woolpack, summer bathing and winter skating on the village pond, the church through the seasons, learning the violin and playing jazz records in the privy on a wind-up gramophone.
Told with a warm sense of humour and a powerful sense of history, Down in the Valley brings us a picture of a vanished world.
Laurie Lee left his childhood home in the Cotswolds when he was nineteen, but it remained with him throughout his life, until, many years later, he returned for good.
In this never before published collection, Laurie Lee guides us through his home landscape around Slad in Gloucestershire, and the memories of his youth there. Down in the Valley bring to life the sights, sounds and traditions of his home - from his favourite pub, The Woolpack, summer bathing and winter skating on the village pond, the church through the seasons, learning the violin and playing jazz records in the privy on a wind-up gramophone.
Told with a warm sense of humour and a powerful sense of history, Down in the Valley brings us a picture of a vanished world.
101 pages, Hardcover
Published November 7, 2019
13 people are currently reading
381 people want to read
About the author
Laurie Lee
81 books276 followersLaurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE, was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie (1959), As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991). While the first volume famously recounts his childhood in the idyllic Slad Valley, the second deals with his leaving home for London and his first visit to Spain in 1934, and the third with his return in December 1937 to join the Republican International Brigade.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
November 21, 2022
This is an older Laurie Lee looking back. Back as well in Slad in the Cotswolds where he began and reflecting on his life. The book is based on a series of conversations and recordings in 1994 which went to make up a TV documentary. The documentary was made by David Parker and he stored the notes and recordings and forgot about them. He found them again in 2017 and decided to make a brief book from them and here we are. The writing comes across as a little strained at times, and that is explained by the fact that they were originally recordings. This is certainly not Cider with Rosie, but it is not meant to be. It is the thoughts of an older man:
“Before I left the valley I thought everywhere was like this. Then I went away for 40 years and when I came back I realized that nowhere was like this.”
The writing covers some of the same themes as Cider With Rosie and the geography is the same. Lee talks about the old pub, the village pond where he played as a child and some of the characters he remembers. A few of his schoolmates are still alive. Lee also throws in some of his poetry, this is Apples:
Behold the apples’ rounded world
juice green of July rain,
the polestar of flowers, the rind
mapped with its crimson stain
The russet, crab and cottage red
burn to the sun’s hot brass
then drop like sweat from every branch
and bubble in the grass.
They lie as wanton as they fall
and where they fall and break
the stallion clamps his crunching jaws
the starling stabs his beak
In each blunt gourd the cidery bite
of boys’ teeth tears the skin
the waltzing wasp consumes his share
the bent worm enters in.
And I, with easy hunger, take
entire, my season’s dole:
and welcome the ripe, the sweet, the sour
the hollow and the whole
There is a sense of the history of the area back to the Stone Age. There are snippets of the Civil War where Charles II is supposed to have hidden in an oak tree and strains of Elgar. This is a rehash and is not as good as the original and there are several recycled stories, possibly having grown a few details over the years. It may seem like a rural idyll. It certainly wasn’t, there was great poverty and many children died young of now curable diseases. The original had more of that feel of rural poverty, there is more rose-tinted reminiscence here.
“Before I left the valley I thought everywhere was like this. Then I went away for 40 years and when I came back I realized that nowhere was like this.”
The writing covers some of the same themes as Cider With Rosie and the geography is the same. Lee talks about the old pub, the village pond where he played as a child and some of the characters he remembers. A few of his schoolmates are still alive. Lee also throws in some of his poetry, this is Apples:
Behold the apples’ rounded world
juice green of July rain,
the polestar of flowers, the rind
mapped with its crimson stain
The russet, crab and cottage red
burn to the sun’s hot brass
then drop like sweat from every branch
and bubble in the grass.
They lie as wanton as they fall
and where they fall and break
the stallion clamps his crunching jaws
the starling stabs his beak
In each blunt gourd the cidery bite
of boys’ teeth tears the skin
the waltzing wasp consumes his share
the bent worm enters in.
And I, with easy hunger, take
entire, my season’s dole:
and welcome the ripe, the sweet, the sour
the hollow and the whole
There is a sense of the history of the area back to the Stone Age. There are snippets of the Civil War where Charles II is supposed to have hidden in an oak tree and strains of Elgar. This is a rehash and is not as good as the original and there are several recycled stories, possibly having grown a few details over the years. It may seem like a rural idyll. It certainly wasn’t, there was great poverty and many children died young of now curable diseases. The original had more of that feel of rural poverty, there is more rose-tinted reminiscence here.
April 23, 2021
Listened to the audiobook via BorrowBox!
Where Laurie Lee is from is quite local to me (about an hour or so drive away) so it was interesting to know about his area and what inspired him to start writing. Loved the part when he spoke passionately about the effect his local library had on him. Some chapters were more interesting than others. Good, short read to pass the time.
Where Laurie Lee is from is quite local to me (about an hour or so drive away) so it was interesting to know about his area and what inspired him to start writing. Loved the part when he spoke passionately about the effect his local library had on him. Some chapters were more interesting than others. Good, short read to pass the time.
November 21, 2022
In 1994, television producer David Parker contacted poet and author Laurie Lee. He sought an interview. They met at Laurie Lee’s favorite home pub, The Woolpack, in the Slad Valley of the Cotswolds, in Gloucestershire, England. The result was a TV show based on a recording of their talk as they walked the area. Laurie Lee was at this point eighty years old. In the years that followed the original voice recordings were lost. Found again, years later, both a book and an audiobook version were made. That is this book.
What is presented are Laurie Lee’s words describing his home valley and memories from his youth. He speaks of his family, of the seasons, of the village pond where the kids all met, of literature, of language and of the art of telling a story.
“I’ve realized that in telling a story, if you use somebody else’s language, people are ot going to be interested. They are not going to read it. Try and describe something as you are looking at it and engage their attention by telling them what it was like to see this for the first time as a boy, or read it aloud, or have it read to them. They will not only say, ‘Yes, I know what he means!’ but then they will write me a letter saying, ‘It brought back my childhood, you know. It is just how I felt! ‘”
Don’t regurgitate what others have told you. Speak for yourself. Express the ideas circling around in your head and the emotions beating in your heart. I think Laurie Lee knows what he is talking about. His advice is unpretentious. What he says sounds informal, natural, simple but is so very right.
We are given a smattering of poems. Laurie Lee speaks of when and where he wrote them.
Different chapters are about different topics, but they do tend to blend. There is repetition. This is natural, since Laurie Lee is talking about that which popped up in his mind as he and David Parker walked and talked. One senses that what one is listening to is for a TV program. This lessened my appreciation.
Some parts I love—the expression of intelligent thoughts and subtle humor, for example. Other parts say little to me. In any case, I am glad to have picked this up. I feel comfortable and at ease following Laurie Lee’s thoughts, and I like how he expresses himself.
In the audio version, David Sibley does a fantastic job reading Laurie Lee’s words. Between each chapter one hears the original voice recordings---it is much more difficult to discern the words in these breaks. Sibley’s performance sounds as though it were Laurie Lee speaking, but he isn’t. The advantage is that you hear the words clearly. The Gloucester accent sounds perfect to me, although I am no expert. The narration I have given five stars.
**********************
*Cider With Rosie 4 stars
*Down in the Valley: A Writer's Landscape 3 stars
What is presented are Laurie Lee’s words describing his home valley and memories from his youth. He speaks of his family, of the seasons, of the village pond where the kids all met, of literature, of language and of the art of telling a story.
“I’ve realized that in telling a story, if you use somebody else’s language, people are ot going to be interested. They are not going to read it. Try and describe something as you are looking at it and engage their attention by telling them what it was like to see this for the first time as a boy, or read it aloud, or have it read to them. They will not only say, ‘Yes, I know what he means!’ but then they will write me a letter saying, ‘It brought back my childhood, you know. It is just how I felt! ‘”
Don’t regurgitate what others have told you. Speak for yourself. Express the ideas circling around in your head and the emotions beating in your heart. I think Laurie Lee knows what he is talking about. His advice is unpretentious. What he says sounds informal, natural, simple but is so very right.
We are given a smattering of poems. Laurie Lee speaks of when and where he wrote them.
Different chapters are about different topics, but they do tend to blend. There is repetition. This is natural, since Laurie Lee is talking about that which popped up in his mind as he and David Parker walked and talked. One senses that what one is listening to is for a TV program. This lessened my appreciation.
Some parts I love—the expression of intelligent thoughts and subtle humor, for example. Other parts say little to me. In any case, I am glad to have picked this up. I feel comfortable and at ease following Laurie Lee’s thoughts, and I like how he expresses himself.
In the audio version, David Sibley does a fantastic job reading Laurie Lee’s words. Between each chapter one hears the original voice recordings---it is much more difficult to discern the words in these breaks. Sibley’s performance sounds as though it were Laurie Lee speaking, but he isn’t. The advantage is that you hear the words clearly. The Gloucester accent sounds perfect to me, although I am no expert. The narration I have given five stars.
**********************
*Cider With Rosie 4 stars
*Down in the Valley: A Writer's Landscape 3 stars
May 8, 2023
An oral history of the town of Slad in Gloucestershire, this book (dictated from voice recordings) is a meditation on place, how it’s history informs its character.
November 13, 2019
There is no one quite like Laurie Lee. In this interview/novel he talks about things that are no longer available to the modern reader because they no longer exist. As Laurie relates stories of his childhood growing up in rural Gloucestershire we understand how life without technology - or even the basics of modern existence - fed both his and his friends imaginations both in their games and and in their community as the seasons of his youth slid past. At the age of eighty he can still recall with amazing clarity how much his early life forged the man and kept his little village of Slad deep in his heart and eventually brought him back after his adventures and travels that took in many sights he had never experienced and even saw him trapped in Spain during the Civil War. Despite his exposure to such a variety of cultures and people it was still his home valley that drew him home.
I absolutely loved this little snippet of the past. It also shows the importance of oral traditions and memory as we our modern selves are assaulted and bombarded with a myriad of digital and visual information that leaves very little time for individual contemplation or even just the time to absorb a beautiful sunset or the music of birdsong or simply the sound of the wind.
Ps if you have never read Cider with Rosie you should.
I absolutely loved this little snippet of the past. It also shows the importance of oral traditions and memory as we our modern selves are assaulted and bombarded with a myriad of digital and visual information that leaves very little time for individual contemplation or even just the time to absorb a beautiful sunset or the music of birdsong or simply the sound of the wind.
Ps if you have never read Cider with Rosie you should.
February 12, 2020
At the age of nineteen, Laurie Lee left the village of Slad in Gloustershire to go to London. From there he would go to Spain before being evacuated and returned to Spain again to help fight in the civil war. The books about his life there, Cider with Rosie and his journey through Spain, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and the final book, A Moment of War, would become best sellers.
After a lifetime of doing things including working for the government at one point, he returned to live out his final days. This book is a transcription of some of the interviews that he did with David Parker, for a documentary for the BBC. In here he speaks about his favourite pub, the Woolpack, school life, the local church and the village pond.
It has been a while since I have read any of Lee’s work and reading this reminded me just how warm his language is. It has some entertaining moments inside, but as it was a transcription, it did feel that it was lacking some of the depth that you’d get from a book that he had written. Definitely one for the dedicated Lee fan.
After a lifetime of doing things including working for the government at one point, he returned to live out his final days. This book is a transcription of some of the interviews that he did with David Parker, for a documentary for the BBC. In here he speaks about his favourite pub, the Woolpack, school life, the local church and the village pond.
It has been a while since I have read any of Lee’s work and reading this reminded me just how warm his language is. It has some entertaining moments inside, but as it was a transcription, it did feel that it was lacking some of the depth that you’d get from a book that he had written. Definitely one for the dedicated Lee fan.
January 29, 2025
‘And I didn't realize until I'd gone to all these other countries that nothing is like this.’
homely and lovely, just not as enthralling as his written work
homely and lovely, just not as enthralling as his written work
April 11, 2020
Although only a transcript from a recording in 1994 I hugely enjoyed the extra insights into Lee’s process of writing, examples of poetry, when and where he wrote them etc.
He grew up in a world of horse and carts, dreamy perpetual summers, distinguished seasons, endless exploration of the valleys, and actual communal living.
He writes about all these elements and more with a stunning and nostalgic quality.
Quintessentially one of the best British writers and my favourite male writer.
He grew up in a world of horse and carts, dreamy perpetual summers, distinguished seasons, endless exploration of the valleys, and actual communal living.
He writes about all these elements and more with a stunning and nostalgic quality.
Quintessentially one of the best British writers and my favourite male writer.
March 29, 2020
The book features short descriptions by the author as told to a TV journalist when getting background information for a TV documentary about the author - it was turned into a book by the journalist after Laurie Lee's death. It is a short book (about 100 pages) but I didn't find it as compelling as other books of his I have read and some bits were repeated - 6/10.
March 31, 2022
I loved it ! Audio soothing, comforting and evocative of the English idyllic countryside. Laurie Lee is heard in the recording also which adds to the experience . Our son and daughter in law live in Gloucestershire so the villages and descriptions are very familiar .
December 10, 2022
A series of recollections by Lee of his hometown, and his early life. It can be seen as a companion to Cider with Rosie, but I would suggest just reading Cider with Rosie. I did like this and I would give a solid 3.5
November 18, 2022
Living in the next town to Stroud, I know all the places mentioned in this book well. In fact, the last long walk I did took me through Slad. I've previously done a literary walk in Slad too, so I know where the pond etc. are.
I love this book because I could relate to it so much. A joy to read for an almost local.
I love this book because I could relate to it so much. A joy to read for an almost local.
June 29, 2025
Ojalá algún día ser tan importante como para ponerme a hablar de mi pueblo y que a los demás les parezca interesante.
December 8, 2019
Imagine Cider with Rosie with all the interest squeezed out and a liberal sprinkling of self-pity on top. That’s this book.
January 20, 2020
I read the first chapter, and thought it felt a little odd, like he was talking rather than writing. I'm glad I skipped to the afterword, which explains that this is pretty much a transcript of a recording made with Laurie Lee in 1994. Knowing that helps to engage with the short anecdotes and brief insights into his life. It's not a rewarding as his books, but his language is still so alive and colourful, and it's obvious he doesn't use, 'second hand clichés or experiences'. Evocative and humorous, well worth reading.
January 1, 2020
An enjoyable series of reminiscences that revisit the Slad Valley we know so well through Cider with Rosie. There is no great depth here but a real sense of comfortable familiarity. Thank you David Parker for letting us share your cotswold rambles with Laurie Lee.
May 11, 2024
A series of conversational vignettes about Laurie Lee's life, particularly how it was greatly shaped by the Cotswolds where he grew up. The tone is so comfortable, like you are listening to these stories at the pub, or on a walk, and even the moments where Lee talks about differences between the younger generation and his own childhood it never comes off as bah humbug, only a nostalgic sadness that even he can admit was mortal. This book is, in many ways, a supplement for anyone already familiar with Laurie Lee or with the documentary from which these scripts are actually originally pulled; anyone new to the poet will still probably enjoy it, but also find themself spending a bit of time on Wikipedia.
Which is where I did find myself several times. I've only heard about Lee in passing and have neither read his poetry or travel memoirs. I'm not so keen on the latter--though if they're as quintessentially British as this perhaps I'll find my way to them--but there are a few excerpts of his poetry in here that makes me certain I would devour an entire book of it. In particular, a piece from "Christmas Landscape":
"Tonight the wind gnaws
with teeth of glass,
the jackdaw shivers
in caged branches of iron,
the stars have talons."
Ooooo "the stars have talons" is just sooooo good I'm in love. I would have liked more connection between all the chapters, or even within the chapters, because as enjoyable as the wandering about storytelling is, sometimes it did leave me lost. Perhaps even just the addition of a map, even a crude one, would have helped me navigate the text.
Down in the Valley reminded me in many ways of Aldo Leopold's writing, particularly in the sorts of passages that contrast their own lives to the changing of their present (both authors are dead, with Lee having passed in 1997, these essays having been recorded in 1994; Leopold's Almanac published in 1949, the author having passed in 1948) worlds. Because of the distance between their own present's and the actual current day, there's a further contrast the reader is able to provide, and it's easy to feel bittersweet about changes neither man could have predicted. On the other hand, it made it easier for me to reflect on my own 'today' and think about how I will be nostalgic for parts of this time at some point in the future, how some to-be-memoirist will be writing about the times they had growing up and how it was better/simpler/etc.
If nothing else, this book is perfect for the warmer months, because it made me want to go for a walk, made me want to walk through where I liked to play as a child. Laurie Lee loved his valley, and that love comes through on every page.
Which is where I did find myself several times. I've only heard about Lee in passing and have neither read his poetry or travel memoirs. I'm not so keen on the latter--though if they're as quintessentially British as this perhaps I'll find my way to them--but there are a few excerpts of his poetry in here that makes me certain I would devour an entire book of it. In particular, a piece from "Christmas Landscape":
"Tonight the wind gnaws
with teeth of glass,
the jackdaw shivers
in caged branches of iron,
the stars have talons."
Ooooo "the stars have talons" is just sooooo good I'm in love. I would have liked more connection between all the chapters, or even within the chapters, because as enjoyable as the wandering about storytelling is, sometimes it did leave me lost. Perhaps even just the addition of a map, even a crude one, would have helped me navigate the text.
Down in the Valley reminded me in many ways of Aldo Leopold's writing, particularly in the sorts of passages that contrast their own lives to the changing of their present (both authors are dead, with Lee having passed in 1997, these essays having been recorded in 1994; Leopold's Almanac published in 1949, the author having passed in 1948) worlds. Because of the distance between their own present's and the actual current day, there's a further contrast the reader is able to provide, and it's easy to feel bittersweet about changes neither man could have predicted. On the other hand, it made it easier for me to reflect on my own 'today' and think about how I will be nostalgic for parts of this time at some point in the future, how some to-be-memoirist will be writing about the times they had growing up and how it was better/simpler/etc.
If nothing else, this book is perfect for the warmer months, because it made me want to go for a walk, made me want to walk through where I liked to play as a child. Laurie Lee loved his valley, and that love comes through on every page.
December 28, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. I thought the concept was fascinating and Laurie Lee is one of my favourite writers. In fact, if geography is a factor, LL probably is my favourite.
When I first read Cider with Rosie, in the 1980s or 90s, I was staggered by how similar some of his childhood countryside adventures were to my own. Cider with Rosie was first published in 1959, before I was even born. But some aspect of LL’s childhood really resonated with my childhood in rural Gloucestershire decades later.
The two room school (big room and little room). I attended Aldsworth school in the early 70s and had to start in the little room until there was room for me in the big room. “Long hot summer days … spent outdoors in the fields”. I lived near Sherborne for a while and used to be gone for hours across the fields. I could name birds by both sight and sound. “The growth of the boys into young adolescents and the first pangs of love”. I lived in Bourton on the Water by then and this book brings back tender memories of the thrills and spills of youth so vividly.
I think this book is fantastic for those who are enthusiastic enough to want more context, more perspective, more Laurie! It’s like a gift from beyond the grave. Thank you David Parker.
When I first read Cider with Rosie, in the 1980s or 90s, I was staggered by how similar some of his childhood countryside adventures were to my own. Cider with Rosie was first published in 1959, before I was even born. But some aspect of LL’s childhood really resonated with my childhood in rural Gloucestershire decades later.
The two room school (big room and little room). I attended Aldsworth school in the early 70s and had to start in the little room until there was room for me in the big room. “Long hot summer days … spent outdoors in the fields”. I lived near Sherborne for a while and used to be gone for hours across the fields. I could name birds by both sight and sound. “The growth of the boys into young adolescents and the first pangs of love”. I lived in Bourton on the Water by then and this book brings back tender memories of the thrills and spills of youth so vividly.
I think this book is fantastic for those who are enthusiastic enough to want more context, more perspective, more Laurie! It’s like a gift from beyond the grave. Thank you David Parker.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2020
There are some lovely passages here, but it's a bit of a mixed bag. While I started off feeling a bit disappointed, that changed when I read the afterword when I was part of the way through the book - and I'd recommend that you read it before reading the rest of the book.
A brand new Laurie Lee book, published more than 20 years after his death is a bit of an event, though also a cause for suspicion as to what exactly it is. Unfinished pieces? Or ones that Laurie felt were unsuitable for publication? And why the long delay since his death? Another 'Go Set a Watchman'?
The afterword explains that it's none of these. Instead, these are transcriptions of Laurie's commentary pieces for a documentary on the landscape of his birthplace. And, with that explanation, they come alive and I can hear Laurie in them - not prose, but speech. Somewhere out there, I hope there's a copy of the documentary that I'll see someday. In the meantime, this is very pleasant, with occasional flashes of the genius that illuminated Cider with Rosie.
A brand new Laurie Lee book, published more than 20 years after his death is a bit of an event, though also a cause for suspicion as to what exactly it is. Unfinished pieces? Or ones that Laurie felt were unsuitable for publication? And why the long delay since his death? Another 'Go Set a Watchman'?
The afterword explains that it's none of these. Instead, these are transcriptions of Laurie's commentary pieces for a documentary on the landscape of his birthplace. And, with that explanation, they come alive and I can hear Laurie in them - not prose, but speech. Somewhere out there, I hope there's a copy of the documentary that I'll see someday. In the meantime, this is very pleasant, with occasional flashes of the genius that illuminated Cider with Rosie.
November 30, 2019
Poetic writing but too short and elegiac rather than observant. Apparently based on interviews for a television documentary, Lee revisits places in the Cotswolds of England connecting with places that meant much to his writing. I think Lee was mostly a poet and that shows in his words here but, much as I love the Cotswolds, a place I have visited several times, this adds little really to his earlier work. Maybe it made for a good documentary on television. Laurie Lee's book Cider With Rosie is wonderful (about his youth in the Cotswolds) and is a read not to be missed. Read that instead. You will be glad you did.
September 13, 2021
This was another interesting view into the valley of Slad and Laurie Lee's life by the writer, David Parker. The reader learnt about the local landscape and its impact on Laurie, his violin, the village school and local pub, the Woolpack. The book even included some poetry of Laurie's in the chapter, Home. While it gave a great insight into the writer's life, it missed some of the storytelling genius of Laurie Lee himself, although it is in effect his stories. I'm think he's rather old at the point of telling them that they miss some of the vigour of Cider with Rosie or I Walked out one Midsummer morning. Nevertheless, a good and enjoyable read.
January 2, 2020
This is an enjoyable read as the author narrates the local scenery of their home. One issue is that the book is a transcript of interviews so at times the author talks as though we can see the location they are describing and so the book may have been better with some photos. But what's lovely is that you can imagine most of what is described as it is described with such beautiful language.
In the afterword we learn the books text is from a tv program so I imagine many readers will want to seek it out to see the visual side and hear the authors voice.
In the afterword we learn the books text is from a tv program so I imagine many readers will want to seek it out to see the visual side and hear the authors voice.
February 23, 2021
Cider with Rosie is one of my favourite books, and this just didn't have the same magic. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the wrong time of year, the wrong place, or the wrong part of my life. It was in parts fun, cheeky, and romantic, but never held me. Perhaps the fact this was actually the transcript of some recordings of an older Lee in conversation - this comes across clumsily in some areas. Of course, it still has some of Lee's charm. It's his voice. But it's not his writing. And I think that proves to be an important difference.
July 12, 2020
Finished. Again I have read a wonderful evocative book by the amazing Laurie Lee. I have virtually all his books, and have never been disappointed, and it is the same with this one. Beautifully written, evocative, descriptive, and gives nothing that the mind cannot envisage. Its stunning. His writing never fails to please. Highly recommend this, and any other book by Laurie Lee!
November 30, 2022
A short but enjoyable read featuring transcripts from a documentary on Laurie Lee, recently made into an abridged book. He really does have a way with words and I could read more and more of these telling of his life and village tales of the Gloucestershire valleys he grew up in. Tales from a now sadly distant past.
April 11, 2020
A beautiful evocation of a life lived and a return to home. Laurie Lee's use of the language is beautiful and easy to place yourself in the atmosphere of his valley. He is sometimes self indulgent but only a few passages detract from this otherwise beautiful book.
June 21, 2023
Lovely to hear snippets of Laurie Lee’s voice & read well by someone with a similar accent. All v bucolic of course & full of purple patches in talking about his poems but he punctures any pomposity regularly.
November 8, 2024
could easily be seen as boring, but for me is was a showcase of the old English folkish landscape in all it's light and shade, and I can feel it springing up from him as he looks back over it's history, so it was really quite nice
November 24, 2024
...actually a transcription of a series of interviews with Lee rather than carefully honed essays, but the charm and vividness of his recollections make for a compelling visit to a world long vanished.
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