James Rebanks second book about farming in the Eden Valley in Cumbria doesn't disappoint. It is as well written and lyrical as his first, passionate about the land, whilst also being pragmatic.

It is in part a memoir, Rebanks family have farmed this land for generations and he learned much about farming and farming practices from his grandfather, who was a great influence on him. There is much on the benefits of the old ways of farming that have been swept away but a farmer's pragmatism also recognises the ways in which some modern farming practices have also been beneficial.

This feels like an important book, one we can all learn from, even though I suspect many readers, like me, will have no experience of working on the land.

Lyrical and compelling, Rebanks combines great social history with farming methods with growing up in a family that is highly stressed and pulled many ways. Descriptions of his parents relationship are as well drawn as the beautiful passages describing curlews or cattle and we feel the pressure on farmers as custodians of the soil. So readable but so important.

James Rebanks is a farmer from a long line of farmers, managing the land on an small estate in the Lake District. English Pastoral documents the journey of the land from generation to generation, beginning with his grandfather's traditional approach to pastoral farming through to modern evolutions in agricultural science. Rebanks explores the impacts that developments in science and technology, as well as the application of economic principles to food production, have had on the national landscape, highlighting a need to step back as opposed to moving forward.

This is easily one of the best non-fiction books I've read not only this year, but quite frankly ever. Rebanks prose reads like a novel, so atmospheric and emotive. His arguments are clearly heavily researched and passionately fought. There is so much nostalgia in his writing, and yet also glimpses of hope for a sustainable future supported by concrete actions.

This is at times a difficult read, full of facts which will make your heart ache. It is also a book with a powerful and important message - a cry for help and call to action for the wildlife and the rural way of life of Great Britain.

I loved The Shepherd's Life for the way James Rebanks described his life as Lakeland farmer, it was one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. In English Pastoral he shows his skill at describing a bygone farming world in the first paragraphs:
'The six ploughshares slice the earth into ribbons, and the shining steel mouldboards lift and turn them and roll them upside down. The dark loamy inside of the earth is exposed to the sky, the grass turned down to the underworld. The upside shines moist from the cut. The furrows layer across the field like sets of cresting waves sweeping across some giant brown ocean.'
This book is the perfect antidote for the urban dweller whose world has been turned upside down with the coronavirus pandemic. He takes you from a childhood, learning the skills of traditional farming from his grandfather, to a brush with 'progressive' agroculture, and finally taking over the family farm and the decision to work with nature while endeavouring to make a profit in a world that seems to be racing to the bottom, producing the cheapest food on the slimmest margins.
This is an easily accessible account of what it's like to be a farmer today, but more importantly it's a balanced view of how farmers can feed the population whilst protecting the farmland and environment.
In fact I would go as far to call this a seminal work which should be essential reading at school.
At the end James Rebanks poses the question:
'What will our descendents think of an age that became aware of the damage it was doing, but was too selfish or stupid to turn back.'

My thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher, Penguin Books, for the opportunity to read and review this fantastic book. For anyone with an interest in the countryside, in agriculture, in growing food, this is a 'must read'. The author charts his relationship with the land he farms, from his enthusiastic youth, tagging along behind his granddad, learning as he works, then later working alongside his father, to the present day, when he has responsibility for the land and is now the teacher, passing on his knowledge and experience to his own children. He describes how farming has become increasingly mechanised, remote and businesslike, discusses why and how the has happened and clearly sets out the consequences. Then he describes how he has reversed some of these improvements and made changes that will encourage the return of wildlife to his land.

The writing is just lyrical at time and this is an incredibly easy book to read. If you enjoy the countryside, if you worry about food standards and quality, this is such an interesting and rewarding piece of writing. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas with me!

Thanks to Netgalley and penguin for the opportunity to review. James describes the landscape so beautifully that the reader can almost hear the peewit. Farming is a hard and undervalued occupation especially in the harsh northern landscape. Should be on GCSE English curriculum.

A beautifully written and well-observed book. Heart warming and thought-provoking it made me feel closer to the land and more understanding of the challenges farmers face.

If you enjoyed the Lakeland Shepherd then this book will not disappoint. The beautiful prose of the author this time challenges modern farming methods, as opposed to the traditional Lake District farm ways.
These observations are founded on at least 3 generations of the author's family.
The book raises serious issues regarding modern farming methods that are destroying and altering landscapes and also biodiversity. We should all be concerned. The author's farm has become a microcosm of how things could be done. It points out the difference between proper smaller farms and the modern agribusinesses.
We could all make a difference by growing a few things ourselves and working with nature by following the seasons. Another thought-provoking book by James Rebank. Let us hope a few more people take notice of his wise words.

I absolutely loved this book. It's not my usual type of read - I'd normally choose a police procedural or occasionally a sci-fi novel. However, I fancied something a bit different and the description of this book appealed to me.

The author was brought up on a fell farm on the edge of the Lake District and his writing is brilliantly evocative of his childhood, he has a fabulous way with words and I felt as if I was there with him. I was lucky enough to grow up in a farming area - not on a farm but I knew a lot of people who lived and worked on farms - and with the help of the amazing writing, I was back in the 1970s. Now as an adult I can still look out of my bedroom window and see plenty of cattle and sheep grazing the hills. I'd never really thought about the work that farmers have to put in to keep their land fit for use though.

The book/memoir/autobiography/polemic can be split into three sections. The first third deals with the author's relationship with his grandfather, an old-school fell farmer, who teaches the author the old ways of working and with whom the author has a better relationship than with his father.

In the second part, the author deals with the relationship with his father and how farming has changed over the years.

The final part of the book relates to the future of farming, comparing new styles of working with the traditional methods.

This thought provoking book really opened my eyes to the problems faced by farmers, both in the past and the present - and the legacy they are leaving for the future.

If I have one criticism, it is that the final part of the book could have been more concise, it seems to be drawing to a conclusion then meanders off in a different direction - the author gets his points across, but he takes his time doing so. Nevertheless, this is a minor point and does not detract from the overall charm of the book.

I totally love and thoroughly recommend the book.

A thought-provoking, 'from the heart' book, from the author of 'The Shepherd's Life'. For anyone who has a hankering to give up the rat race and live off the land, this might make them think twice. Through Rebanks' eyes, you see what a hard life it has been for his grandfather, for this father and for himself, we also see how immensely rewarding he finds the work, how much he loves the land and how deeply rooted his family is to the land.

This is a beautiful, elegiac story of a rural landscape that deserves to be understood and respected by everyone, not just those who live on it and by it.

James Rebanks farms the same Lake District land that his father and grandfather did and hopes to pass the legacy on to his own children. The land, however, has undergone change over the years, not all of it for the good.

Farming on a large, industrial scale, has led to food being produced more cheaply, but often robbing farmers of a fair price for what they sell. Animals are kept inside in vast sheds, pumped full of antibiotics, and bred for maximum profit in the shortest time. Smaller farmers struggle to survive and are forced to diversify or risk going bankrupt.

Some of the numbers quoted were eye-watering. Over 50% of the milk produced in this country comes from cows kept entirely indoors. Contrast that with one of my great-aunts with a herd of dairy cows, of which she knew every one by name, often putting her arms around them and hugging them. She would have been horrified.

It's not just the animals that have suffered. The industrialisation of farming has led to soil deprivation, hedgerows disappearing, and with it a great number of native species and habitats. Ecological disasters and climate change have accelerated the need to find a way forward that restores the balance.

Rebanks makes a passionate case for a kinder, more sustainable way of living. His farm has now adapted to incorporate many of the practices that were around in his father's and grandfather's day. It is a way of life that he describes with passion and clear-sightedness. The pleasure in seeing his children take notice of and pride in the natural world around them is also self-evident.

This book's accounts of a way of life that needs to be relearned and cherished, so that we can continue to live in harmony with the natural world instead of fighting it, are worth reading time and again. It is descriptive and thought-provoking and deserves the largest possible audience.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Penguin Press UK (Allen Lane), in return for an honest appraisal.

This beautifully written memoir by farmer James Rebanks is also an education in the way traditional farming techniques have been overtaken by, not necessarily better, more productive and financially rewarding ones.
He explains his upbringing on his family farm, and how his grandfather and father taught him to love and respect the farm and its traditions. When he eventually owns his own farm, he uses his knowledge, alongside expert advice and support, to try to create a better balance between sustainable farming, the environment and food production. An enlightening account from an erudite and optimistic visionary.
Thank you to James Rebanks, Net Galley and Penguin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written and nostalgic but not sentimental. I haven't read "The Shepherd's Life" but I will do although i don't believe it is necessary to ted the books in order - this one certainly stands alone.

It is an incredibly timely release as politicians and the public alike are thinking so hard about food and farming practices and policy. Everybody who is even remotely interested in food production should read this elegy to the British way of farming life (and no doubt replicated outside of Britain) and to what this brave band of people are trying, against so many odds, to protect.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Delighted to read the distillation of what I feel in my bones about the British countryside, the value of diversity & the howling need to have a bigger goal than fulfilment in the pursuit of monetary wealth.

Author James Rebanks’ memoir, is written with a prose that’s so poetic, it’s fair to say it touches the soul, and was extremely moving.

On his Cumbrian farm, in the Eden Valley, James looks back with nostalgia to early memories, sitting on the back of his grandfathers’ tractor, plowing fields in the old traditional (but nowadays considered less efficient way), the gulls giving chase, their excited screeches filling the air, and then, their work done, heading homewards beneath a blue black sky filled with a million glittering stars.

His grandfather cared deeply for the land, and it’s difficult not to feel a deep sadness for him, defiant in his determination to carry on with the traditional way of farming, and he did so right up until his death, but eventually there comes a time when change has to be embraced, to modernise in order to survive, but what about the cost to families, and rural communities, animals and nature?

James’s grandfather was such an important part of his life, teaching him everything he needed to know about farming the land, in a manner that didn’t compromise the quality of the yield or destroy the environment. His grandmother too is remembered with fondness, as she toiled in the kitchen, looking after the menfolk, forever cooking, baking, making jams and chutneys, and I felt an immediate affinity, as I was reminded of my own grandma, who was a terrific baker - it took me down memory lane, right back to her cosy kitchen filled with love and warmth, with the most delicious aromas, and watching her slice generous chunks of her home made bread, still warm from the oven, smothered in golden butter, with a slice of creamy cheddar, or home made jams of various varieties - and her cakes and pastries, oh my! Apologies for that, got kind of carried away there!

Back to the novel, it was easy for me to share his nostalgia, and needless to say, I was somewhat moved by the whole experience. There were so many things that I loved about this book, not least the author’s passion for farming the land in a way that allows bees, pollinators, birds and beetles to thrive. To bring the natural system into balance, a new economy that is sustainable and respects the limits of natural resources and the functions of ecosystems is fundamental.

This is an extremely informative and absorbing memoir about the changes in agriculture across three generations. James shares some serious issues and concerns, and he relates where he believes things went wrong, and what he’s doing on his own farm to ensure a sustainable future, both financially and ecologically for his own children.


If you get the chance to read English Pastoral, grab it with both hands - it covers some serious issues that we all need to acknowledge, and the author’s passion for the land just radiates on every page.

English Pastoral is a memoir of the author's experience on his family's farm, both as a child and now as the owner. We get to see some nostalgia for how things were, some exploration of how things have gone off track with our relationship to food and how we get it, and finally how a farm can run more sustainably in this new world and how we can improve our awareness of convenient food and its true cost.

Beautifully written story about a family farming through several generations. They have a varying relationship with their land and animals. There are ups and downs. There is also the reminder that we need to be good to the land in order to maintain it.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

English Pastoral is a heartfelt story of a Lake District farmer and the impact that intensivisation of farming has had on the way of life for farmers generally. The best parts are the descriptions of nature on the family farm and Rebanks' clear love for his land. The final policy prescription of wanting farmers in marginal areas to encourage wildlife on their farms alongside producing food via more traditional methods sounds like a recipe for higher food prices and farming subsidies to me, but I can see how it feels logical to the author.

Some of the policy issues raised eg the need to retain biological diversity in crops and the impact on animal welfare of increased herd size were good points that I hadn't thought about before and gave a well-rounded view of the issues. Other policy issues were perfectly valid points, but got slightly skated over and didn't say much I hadn't heard before eg on soil erosion and supermarket monopoly powers.

There were a couple of arguments that didn't really convince me eg the suggestion that we intensivise food production on good farmland and abandon marginal farmland to be left for wildlife (which would be very bad for the author's farm) was wafted away with a non-sequitur argument that the existence of roads, railways and housing developments would prevent wildlife from reclaiming the abandoned fields. On a more fundamental level, the thesis that intensive farming is doing irreversible harm and that eco-systems are "delicate" is somewhat undermined by the final section of the book where leaving nature to do it's thing on a part of his farm has resulted in everything essentially repairing itself in a matter of a few years - Isabella Tree's Rewilding tells a similar story that farming's impacts require significant maintenance or else nature will just "recover" the land on its own.

Let's be honest: who hasn't been to Lake District or any other hilly part of England and gazed admiringly at the sheep and cows grazing peacefully and thought how amazing it must be to be the owner of such a place?! Turns out things are not as it seems and owning such a farm is not only hard word - as in having to work all day long, but it can also mean a huge financial burden. But hey, it is actually amazing!

English Pastoral is a mixture of autobiography, a look into farming from the traditional, rotational way of farming to the large scale farming of modern days. It is an ode to the pastoral farming, a manifesto for more sustainable farming systems and a plea for keeping traditions and rural communities alive.

James Rebanks has become my go to voice from the farming community for common sense and leadership around balancing the crucial priorities of mending our environment and putting food on our tables. I am excited by the emerging evidence around re-wilding our landscapes and the positive impact that this can have on biodiversity and species conservation, but am also aware that there is no single panacea when it comes to shaping the future we need to discover, as a successful species within a flourishing global ecosystem.

In Nostalgia, the first section of the book, James remembers his childhood growing up on the farms of his grandfather and father. They are relationships that he talked about in this previous book, A Shepherd’s Life, too. His grandfather took on the role of master and sage passing down his knowledge and experience to a young apprentice, whilst his father was weighed down with the pressing matters of keeping the farm and family afloat.

The middle section, Progress, recounts the changes that have taken place in farming during the author’s lifetime and the often destructive impact those changes have had, with consumers demanding cheap food with no thought for the consequences to a land they no longer feel connected to. James doesn’t hold back when it comes to his own mistakes and those of the people he loves, but he also makes it clear that we all share the blame in our refusal to pay what it costs.

Finally, in Utopia, James discusses the changes he is making to the way that he farms the land in order to ensure that he is able to pass on a sustainable inheritance, in both financial and ecological terms, to his children, who are now learning from him as he did his father and grandfather. This close connection to the land is, I believe, crucial to our futures and although we can learn from James’s experience we all need to discover some of the reality of that connection for ourselves, re-building our links to the food on our plates and the country we live in.

“The distinction between me and this place blurs until I become part of it, and when they set me in the earth here, it will be the conclusion of a longer lifelong story of return…. The modern world worships the idea of the self, the individual, but it is a gilded cage: there is another kind of freedom in becoming absorbed in a little life on the land. In a noisy age, I think perhaps trying to live quietly might be a virtue.”

The patriotism of politicians and opportunists is cheap, based on a flight of fancy, a fantasy notion designed to stir reaction in a frustrated man. The farmer’s patriotism, however, is much deeper, born from a commitment to his land, a day after day carrying of the burden of stewardship and an inability to walk away from something that is intrinsic to his own being. They are as different as a schoolboy crush is to a lifelong marriage.

As a society we must learn to re-value both the land and the people who care for it. Mass migration from the countryside to the city has been viewed as progress, but in reality it has broken our connectivity to our life force. Sitting in front of a screen has been deemed more valuable than bringing forth life and food from the earth, whilst an inheritance of banknotes is more valued than handing down a flourishing planet.

Where James Rebanks is so strong is that his passion embraces both the ecological and the economic. He has seen how farming has tried to make ends meet in a world that demands cheap, plentiful food but that is too detached to measure the damage that is done to deliver it. He has seen the damage to his land, to the ecosystems that have been wiped away and to his friends and colleagues. As a result his writing is both poetic, in his communication of what it means to live on the land, and prophetic, in its warnings.

“People left the land for towns and cities, and then, a generation or two later, when they were better educated and more affluent, they returned to it as a form of leisure and escapism, developing a new kind of relationship with the landscape. When we left, we were farmers. When we returned other people, tougher people, were the farmers, and we just loved ‘nature’. We had become free of the harsh realities and were then several steps removed from what others now did in our name to feed us. We found the old ways hard to stomach and sought to escape from slaughter and death. Such utopianism speaks to our better selves, but there is a very thin line between idealism and bullshit.”

We are surrounded by bullshit, we seem to be addicted to it from the way we elevate the most diarrheal voices, but as we face up to the reality of the mess that we have created we would do well to learn that real wisdom comes from those who know and love the land. Their agenda lives on well beyond life peerages and non-executive directorships to the inheritance of our children and grandchildren.

We need to restore our environment and we need to eat. We need farmers at the heart of both, alongside the scientists and the ecologists, with the rest of us learning from all of them how to also play our part. English Pastoral is an excellent place for us to start.