Hugh Thomson's The Green Road Into The Trees is a remarkable book about his journey across England from Dorset to Norfolk.
Tracing loosely an ancient road, The Ickneild Way, Thomson uncovers the hidden local histories of England and the changes to the way we live. He celebrates life. He writes about highs and lows, geographical and human. About law making and lawlessness.
For retailers seeking to be at the heart of their communities this is a manual on what belonging is about. The rural memory, he notes, is both very short and very long.
This following observation within a conversation with countryman David Hughes in Oxfordshire is typical of the quality of Thomson's thought and writing.
"Over his cup of tea and morning cigarello, David talks about the changes he has seen in the countryside. He think it's too easy to make the usual assumptions about how 'it's all commuters now and the heart has gone out of the villages'. That needs to be qualified by 'some villages', as I've noticed myself.
" 'You get places where the church is now open only one day a month, the pub has to be run by agency management, if it's open at all, and despite a perfectly good primary in the village, the locals send their children to private schools outside.'
"And yet, as David points out, the next door village may have a thriving pub, allotments, cricket team, well-attended school and that ultimate rosette for the community-minded, a small shop run by local volunteers. The difference can be minimal - a few energetic and strong-minded individuals, a village layout that is more than just a strip alongside a road and something more intangible, which if I were less agnostic I would describe as its soul."
This is a fine description of what distinguishes a great local shop from an ordinary one. The drive and energy of a shopkeeper who has chosen his location well.
As he walks, cycles and swims across England, Thomson demonstrates the beauty that lies just outside our towns, often unseen. He explains how economics and the law have shaped the countryside.
There are two ways to read this book. You can dip in and grab the parts that interest you. Or you can share his journey, his ramblings on his own failed marriage and university years and travels in Peru and India. This is a collection of stories about what it is to be alive in England, one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Tracing loosely an ancient road, The Ickneild Way, Thomson uncovers the hidden local histories of England and the changes to the way we live. He celebrates life. He writes about highs and lows, geographical and human. About law making and lawlessness.
For retailers seeking to be at the heart of their communities this is a manual on what belonging is about. The rural memory, he notes, is both very short and very long.
This following observation within a conversation with countryman David Hughes in Oxfordshire is typical of the quality of Thomson's thought and writing.
"Over his cup of tea and morning cigarello, David talks about the changes he has seen in the countryside. He think it's too easy to make the usual assumptions about how 'it's all commuters now and the heart has gone out of the villages'. That needs to be qualified by 'some villages', as I've noticed myself.
" 'You get places where the church is now open only one day a month, the pub has to be run by agency management, if it's open at all, and despite a perfectly good primary in the village, the locals send their children to private schools outside.'
"And yet, as David points out, the next door village may have a thriving pub, allotments, cricket team, well-attended school and that ultimate rosette for the community-minded, a small shop run by local volunteers. The difference can be minimal - a few energetic and strong-minded individuals, a village layout that is more than just a strip alongside a road and something more intangible, which if I were less agnostic I would describe as its soul."
This is a fine description of what distinguishes a great local shop from an ordinary one. The drive and energy of a shopkeeper who has chosen his location well.
As he walks, cycles and swims across England, Thomson demonstrates the beauty that lies just outside our towns, often unseen. He explains how economics and the law have shaped the countryside.
There are two ways to read this book. You can dip in and grab the parts that interest you. Or you can share his journey, his ramblings on his own failed marriage and university years and travels in Peru and India. This is a collection of stories about what it is to be alive in England, one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Comments
Post a Comment