Summer Meadow: Forty Acres of Shared Earth

What could be more evocative of heady summer days than a meadow in all its blowy, flowery glory? In this exquisite prose essay, leading naturalist Miriam Darlington takes us deep into the heart of a local meadow in her beloved Devon. She describes how a drained and threadbare place is regenerated, how it slowly fills with flowers, insects, mammals and birds until it is teeming with life a patchwork of heaven . The meadow does its own work, but it is helped by human hands something that creates a passionate bond between the writer and this special habitat: I turned myself over to the hot blue sky, lying among eyebright, pimpernel and meadowsweet. My senses attuned to a tide of cricket-sound, the whirring voice of the grassland. from 'The Summer Meadow' by Miriam Darlington There are many kinds of meadow, we are told. By paying close attention to the particular, a treasured place is brought to life in all its vivid and unique beauty. Poems by EJ Scovell and Katharine Towers. Cover illustration by Niki Bowers. Includes one poetry pamphlet, envelope and co-ordinating bookmark with space for your own personal message.