Open the ancient door of an old church, says Ronald Blythe, and framed in the silence is a house of words where everything has been said: centuries of birth, marriage and death words, gossip, poetry, philosophy, rant, eloquence, learning, nonsense, the language of hymn writers and Bible translators - all of it spoken in one place. This work contains words spoken by Ronald Blythe in the churches he serves as a Reader in the Church of England, and as the local writer expected to add his own distinctive voice. Originating as addresses given at Matins or Evensong, they follow various paths into...

Britain's best loved rural writer chronicles the progress of the seasons in the Stour valley village where he has lived and worked among artists, writers, farmers and, increasingly, commuters. For all the changes in the contemporary countryside, timeless qualities remain and both are captured here with a poet's understanding and imagination. The year takes its shape from the seasons of nature and the feasts and festivals of the Christian year. Each informs and illuminates the other in this loving celebration of nature's gifts and neighbourly friendship. Literature, poetry, spirituality and...

With reverence and love, Britain's most admired rural writer chronicles daily life in the Stour valley village, finding beauty and significance in its sheer ordinariness as well as in its many literary, artistic and historic associations. The year takes its shape from the seasons of nature and the feasts and festivals of the Christian year. Each informs and illuminates the other in this loving celebration of nature's gifts and neighbourly friendship. Literature, poetry, spirituality and memory all merge to create an exquisite series of stories of our times.
These delightful essays first...

Ronald Blythe followed up his famous 'Akenfield' with this book. In it he allows people from all walks af life to reflect in their own words on what it it like to be old. The result is a facinating and moving series of confidences which we are priviledged to share. Whether philosophical, resigned or despairing of their long years, Ronald Blythe discovers in their talk much that helps us undersand the natural but isolating effects of old age. This book provides us with a gentle, perceptive and profound memoir and a deeper understanding of the pattern of our lives. Ronald Blythe is one of...

Features a collection of sixty -Word From Wormingford- columns from the back page of the -Church Times-, published in the autumn of 2006. This work presents mini essays that reflect the natural landscape, the changing seasons, village life, art, poetry, the stories that ancient churches tell.

An illustrated collection of the author's regular weekly column on the back page of the "Church Times," where, with a poet's eye, he observes the comings and goings of the rural world he sees from his ancient farmhouse in Constable country.

An illustrated collection of the author's regular weekly column on the back page of the -Church Times-, where, with a poet's eye, he observes the comings and goings of the rural world he sees from his ancient farmhouse in Constable country.

An illustrated collection of the author's regular weekly column on the back page of the "Church Times," where, with a poet's eye, he observes the comings and goings of the rural world he sees from his ancient farmhouse in Constable country.

Ronald Blythe has spent his life among the artists and writers of his native Suffolk. His books, especially the bestselling "Akenfield," have given East Anglia a distinctive literary voice. Here we accompany Ronald through the lanes of Constable country, we observe him in his study following his early morning writing routine, we meet John Clare, Traherne and countless other writers who continue to influence him, we join him in the ancient tradition of Anglican worship season by season, and luxuriate in the simple beauty of his ancient farmhouse and its garden, made by the artist John Nash....