One of the things I look toward with greatest anticipation each time I visit England are the opportunities these journeys provide to indulge in a wide range of direct-from-the-farm foods. I can’t speak for what’s to be found in “the City” as I’m rarely there, but in the countryside where I generally find myself, the availability, quality, and variety of locally grown or raised foodstuffs is truly delightful.

Thus I was particularly pleased to discover this week, thanks entirely to Mark Avery’s Sunday Book Review, a new book from Elliott & Thompson that had not yet come to my attention : Charlie Pye- Smith’s Land of Plenty; A Journey Through the Fields and Foods of Modern Britain. Given Mark’s tireless efforts on behalf of Britain’s wildlife and the relationship of its conservation to the present practices of British agriculture, Mark’s assessment of it is decidedly one you’ll not likely find from any other reviewer, and given his considerable expertise regarding this relationship, his assessment of Land of Plenty is indeed well worth reading.

Mark Avery’s book reviews appear in The Well-read Naturalist by special arrangement. You can find all of Mark’s past reviews as well as a wide-ranging collection of his other writings on his Standing Up for Nature website.