A Countrywoman's Year by Rosemary Verey

A Countrywoman's Year Reviews

• 
  Isabella Leake

  I'm not quite sure what to make of this book — whether it truly ripened from "middling" to "superb" about halfway through, as it seemed to do, or whether it took me half the book to learn how to read it.
  
  It's composed of 12 chapters, one for each month, with a handful of page-long segments about various topics in each chapter. There is no thesis, and even the range of topics seemed surprisingly broad and disparate. Since the author was a famous gardener, I was expecting to bask in choice descriptions and well-wrought ruminations on nature, gardening, seasons, and so forth. And there is a good deal of that — discussions of hedges and verges and fields, drystone walls, bees in the roof, hedgehogs in the garden, resident birds and their habits, the joys of picnicking and apple harvesting — but also a good deal about visiting country houses (both in England and America), about village life (the church moneybox is stuck, the last postmistress hasn't been replaced), and about famous gardeners and landscapers from history.
  
  The book presents a lovely potpourri, but its fault, I think, is that the components are too varied for you to get enough of a whiff of any one element. All the spring months slip by with scarcely a mention of the flowers blooming, or the work going on, in the garden. Instead we get, in May (for instance), brief essays on (1) a new authentic cheesemaking business in Gloucestershire, (2) the aforementioned bees in the roof, (3) the trees belonging to the author, (4) hedges, and (5) moles. All delightful topics, but are these really the most crucial to mention in May? I felt like the whole month flitted by without touching on the essence of the month...and this was true for every month up until July. At that point, it seemed to me that the book found its way (or perhaps I found the book's way), and it became excellent reading.
  
  There are some truly delightful portions: a discursus on the word "hedge" as an element in plant names in regional dialects (Jack-along-the-hedge = garlic mustard; hedge maidens = ground ivy); the author's confession that she (like me!) can never keep up with all the flower concoctions one can make in the spring; the enticing tidbit that blackcurrant leaves make a choice sorbet; a beautiful pair of descriptions of two types of picnic, one elaborate and one impromptu. A lovely thread that does run through the book is quotation of countryside wisdom, in the form of proverbial maxims, poetry, diaries and letters and books, many dating from the 15th or 16th centuries.
  
  In fact, no portion of the book is not interesting; it's just not clear to me why these particular topics belong together as a cohesive whole. I like the elegant brevity of the book, but it would be improved by doubling the length and sustaining more threads of subject matter across the seasons (for instance, by adding much more about the garden and the work it entails). I suspect that with a stronger heartbeat the book would have become much more well-known and beloved than it seems to be. As it is, the book gives you a pleasing whiff of the English countryside, but it could have steeped you in the glories of rural England.
• 
  Hannah

  Short and entertaining little book highlighting the 12 months of the year as gleaned from the noted English gardener/naturalist Rosemary Verey (if the foreward by Prince Charles is any indication).
  
  Every month contains Verey's short insights from living on her estate in the Cotswolds. I enjoyed her observations as well as the pen and ink drawings by various artists scattered throughout. This book would, I think, would make a good companion piece to The Inland Island, by Josephine Johnson:
  
  
  
  Nice book to pick up and read for an hour or so if you enjoy gardening or the natural world.
  
• 
  Veronica Hewston

  I was under the impression this had some vintage home skills in it. It really has nothing at all but some short meandering thoughts if an elderly church woman in flower arranging.
• 
  Leah

  Such a lovely account of life in the country, broken up by month.
• 
  Karen Floyd

  Month by month musings on life in the British countryside. Verey is an an engaging and companionable guide. Seeing that the author is garden expert Rosemary Verey I assumed this was a book about gardening, but found this is not the case. There is gardening in it but it is not exclusively about gardening. It is a paean instead to life lived and closely observed in the British countryside, a quieter, more peaceful way of life. Originally published in 1989, with an introduction by the Prince of Wales, it is probably a bit outdated now; but not, I hope, too outdated.
  
  April 2024 - I enjoyed re-reading this while waiting for spring.
• 
  Susan

  When the world wearies, and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden (or books about gardens)
• 
  Stewart

  Very enjoyable month by month look at the year round activities in the garden by one of Britain's gardening greats. A soothing read.