Patrick Galbraith explores how writers depict the countryside.  Who are the very best writers on the countryside today and what’s the difference between “rural writing”, “nature writing” and “sporting writing”? Why do so many so-called “nature writers” dislike the term? 

To help him to understand the subject, Patrick enlists the help of some old-hands. First he heads to Hampshire to speak to Jonathan Young, who edited both Shooting Times and The Field, Britain’s oldest sporting titles. Jonathan shares his thoughts on how sporting magazines have changed over the years and he reveals the three essential pieces of equipment that the Editor of Shooting Times, in its golden period, used to give to every new member of staff and he also shares his thoughts on what sort of day in the field makes for a great magazine feature. 

Patrick then meets up with John Mitchinson, the founder of the publishing house, Unbound. John, who is himself a pig-keeper, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of great books on rural Britain. He also has a very clear sense of what the difference is between ‘countryside writing’ and ‘nature writing’. Do people, Patrick asks John, actually want to read about the countryside as it really is?

Finally, Guy Adams, a features writer at the Daily Mail, explains how the internet has impacted economics of newspaper and magazine publishing and he reflects on the effect that this has had on countryside writing. They also discuss the importance of proper writing on the countryside and how new forms of publishing could revitalise the scene by offering writers the chance to be paid properly again for their work.

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You can order Patrick’s book on rural Britain and how it’s changing here. John Lewis-Stempel called it ‘the best book on the countryside in years’: