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“I was of the country. I could not dip my pen in the life-blood of the city streets. I needed the very song of the shadow-dappled brook to write, with the sounds of wild wings in my ears and the scent of wild flowers in my nostrils.”Copsford is the autobiographical narrative of Walter J.C. Murray who in 1920, moved away from London to live by himself in a small, derelict cottage in the English countryside. His goal was to get back to the environment of the country which he dearly loved and gathe...
A memoir of a man who, in 1920, spends a year living alone in a derelict cottage in Sussex, away from the rat race of London. He lives by gathering and drying herbs to sell. The book is a nostalgic reflection on being isolated (he compares himself to Robinson Crusoe) and becoming attuned to the natural world. Reflective without being sentimental, it’s quietly evocative, and frequently poetic in its descriptions.‘I travelled by spinney and copse, through shaw and forgotten corduroy, at first beca...
A gentle and mildly humourous tale of a man wrestling with the elements in a forlorn house while scavenging herbs, this was was a nice slow-read, but nothing went very deep. So it's not a guide to herbology, or a 'how to renovate a derelict mansion', and not even a 'how to turn my dull London-bound life around', but more of 'a year in the life of...'. Nice, but not really elevating. It has made me curious about the house and its surroundings, though.
As a child, I roamed. I was born to roam, I suppose – an American born in Germany who lived in Germany, Texas, the Philippine Islands, Italy, and Minnesota all before the age of ten. Lived – not visited. I have a difficult time remember all the places we visited as a family during that time. Like most children of that day and age, before over-protectiveness stifled wanderlust, I wandered on my own a fair amount, too. After Minnesota, we moved to Nebraska and, when I was 15, we moved to England,
An unusual read from a century ago as a man, fed up of London, goes the opposite extreme and lives in a derelict cottage by the downs for a year living a solitary life. Full of introspection, insights and a sharp eye learning of the countryside around him. A good read, one I only ca,e across after reading the books by Raynor Winn
Books of this nature rarely come to hand, primarily because there's precious little market for such material. So the lineup of writers prepared to produce it is short and the list of publishers willing to put it into print even shorter. It's a heartfelt paean to the natural world and man's place in it (if he ever takes the time and trouble to find it).One of the most unique and engaging qualities of Murray's writing is his passionate and penetrating study of the power of light, smell and wind to...
Walden light vind ik wel goed klinken, als jullie beloven het niet pejoratief op te vatten.Heerlijk vonden we het om het jaar dat Walter J.C. Murray begin jaren '20 doorbracht op een vervallen hoeve in Sussex mee te mogen beleven. Copsford was 20 jaar onbewoond en verstoken van stromend water en elektriciteit, maar exact de plek die Murray zocht als schril contrast voor zijn bestaan op een 3-hoog flat in Londen. Op een heuvel, over het water van de Darn, tussen de verwilderde weides, 1,5 mijl va...
Wow! What a fantastic experience!
