The Smell of Summer Grass: Pursuing Happiness, Perch Hill 1994-2011
Adam Nicolson
The Smell of Summer Grass: Pursuing Happiness, Perch Hill 1994-2011
Adam Nicolson was determined to leave metropolitan life but the rundown farm in the Sussex Weald was not quite what he bargained for. The scenery was breathtaking and the rural neighbours charming but the hard end of real farming life was another matter — mud, cold, planning regulations and unco-operative livestock. The Smell of Summer Grass is based partly on the long out of print 'Perch Hill'. It is the story of the years spent in finding and building a personal Arcadia, sometimes a dream, sometimes a nightmare.
3.4 out of 5 based on 4 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Biography, Home & Garden |
| Format |
Paperback |
| Pages |
320 |
| RRP |
£20.00 |
| Date of Publication |
March 2011 |
| ISBN |
978-0007335572 |
| Publisher |
HarperPress |
| |
Adam Nicolson was determined to leave metropolitan life but the rundown farm in the Sussex Weald was not quite what he bargained for. The scenery was breathtaking and the rural neighbours charming but the hard end of real farming life was another matter — mud, cold, planning regulations and unco-operative livestock. The Smell of Summer Grass is based partly on the long out of print 'Perch Hill'. It is the story of the years spent in finding and building a personal Arcadia, sometimes a dream, sometimes a nightmare.
SISSINGHURST: AN UNFINISHED HISTORY by Adam Nicolson
Reviews
The Daily Telegraph
Raffaella Barker
"The book is a pleasure to read for the beautiful writing, the beguiling habitat, the misbegotten animals and the satisfaction of observing order being born of chaos … And he’s funny."
08/04/2011
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The Evening Standard
Jane Shilling
"Nicolson is a romantic: his writing displays the heightened lyricism and occasional unexpected rage, self-contradiction and intolerance of the tendency ... These things, if one expected perfection, would be flaws. But Nicolson, having spent so long working with the land, where perfection is a meaningless concept, is interested in something different ... He writes, in short, like a good farmer: observantly, instinctively and with intense feeling."
28/04/2011
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The Spectator
David Sexton
"The Smell of Summer Grass is much more straightforwardly a reprint of Perch Hill than the acknowledgements make clear, a little naughtily. It’s a great treat if you have not read its predecessor, a bit of a swiz if you have."
21/05/2011
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The Times
Iain Finlayson
"He has pitched his pretty book of Arcadian memoir perfectly at National Trust coach parties and all addicts of The Archers who cherish a sunlit dream of English country traditions and souvenir-shop heritage."
09/04/2011
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