A woman ploughing a field on a farm in Macclesfield circa 1921. Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images The politics of land ownership and rural economics are complex and Smith deserves credit for grappling with some of this territory within an accessible and thought-provoking narrative. There's much to enjoy in Rural" At the centre of the book is something core to Smith’s own experience: as rural villages transform into playgrounds for the rich and second homes proliferate, those who for generations have shaped – and been shaped by – the countryside are priced out. What is it is like, then, to belong to the countryside but be forced out and unable to return? Melding the voices of past and present through interviews, her own travels, and lives captured in historical archived documents, Smith explores the precarity of working-class rural life, from the Highland Clearances to the building and deconstruction of industrial settlements, the coronavirus pandemic and the rise of Airbnb. The story presented is honest and at times hopeful rather than bleak, and she does not romanticise working-class histories. Rather, Smith centres the deep connections and roots to the land felt by rural communities through the perspectives of those who have created it, her rich, astute descriptions bringing landscapes and histories to life.

Many of the streets on Smith’s estate are named after victims of the 1923 Redding Pit Disaster, which claimed 40 lives after the shaft became flooded leaving many trapped. As hope of rescue faded, one miner had written heartbreaking letters to his wife. “Dearest Maggie – tell Peggie, James, Lilly, Jeannie and wee Maisie to keep up. She is also clearly full of respect and admiration, as well as love, for her brother, Tom, who manages an area of forestry that he has bought. Living off selling firewood and carvings seems precarious but Tom achieves this and so provides his sister with excellent material as well as a location for recuperation and celebration. Think of the Creagh Dhu mountaineers who escaped the grimness of Depression-era Glasgow during the 1930s, or the families who poured onto boats to head “doon the watter” when shipyards and factories closed for the annual fair fortnight. In her account of early UK tourism, Smith mentions middle-class wanderers who couldn’t afford the aristocracy’s European “grand tours”, and also the disdain expressed by the likes of William Wordsworth towards the humbler wave of travellers, who were often no strangers to damp, squalid housing or many of the other problems she lists as afflicting rural communities.The book is better read not as as a single, tidy argument but as a series of interconnected essays linked by Smith’s journey around the country. She was pregnant for much of the journey, and she details how that, and having to manage a family, affected her research. Some readers will find this intrudes on the main narrative, but she is making the point that if you are not well off, and your circumstances are challenging, then a sense of a family connection to a place can feel like the most important thing you have, and have to give. How we manage people’s competing claims to ownership of places is one of the great questions for the world in the 21st century. As Rural shows, the British countryside is a good example of how not to do it. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/19/rural-the-lives-of-the-working-class-countryside-by-rebecca-smith-review The point is that we have (collectively) chosen to kill the former economic structure. People have no idea what a working rural economy would look because the countryside is just a vehicle for expressing other obsessions of rural idylls or environmental havens or whatever. Rural made me think of my own home in rural Devon. Here, there are towns and villages where locals can no longer afford to live; pubs close as holiday-homers aren’t around to become part of the fabric of place. Smith explores these issues without turning the book into a polemic, leaving room for nuance and difficult questions.

Work in the countryside ties you, soul and salary, to the land, but often those who labour in nature have the least control over what happens there. Starting with Rebecca Smith’s own family history – foresters in Cumbria, miners in Derbyshire, millworkers in Nottinghamshire, builders of reservoirs and the Manchester Ship Canal – Rural is an exploration of our green and pleasant land, and the people whose labour has shaped it.Rural explores the diverse lives and industries entangled in the natural landscape and how they’ve changed. It’s a personal and insightful read for anyone who wants to get under the skin of Britain’s green and pleasant land. Thompson said: “I think most of us care deeply about the countryside but it’s funny how often it’s characterised as a place of escape for city-dwellers. In her book, Rebecca writes so honestly from both personal experience and research. I’ve learned about bygone trades and ingenious community schemes. I’ve been frustrated by social inequality and reassessed my relationship with Airbnb. This is a gorgeous, truly illuminating book—affectionate, perceptive and fascinating. I’m so happy to be publishing it.” Work in the countryside ties you, soul and salary, to the land, but often those who labour in nature have the least control over what happens there. Starting with Rebecca Smith's own family history - foresters in Cumbria, miners in Derbyshire, millworkers in Nottinghamshire, builders of reservoirs and the Manchester Ship Canal - Rural is an exploration of our green and pleasant land, and the people whose labour has shaped it.

Take a Look at Our Summary of November Highlights, Whether You're Looking for the Latest Releases or Gift Inspiration With Smith’s own family history at its heart, Rural explores the working-class countryside and what we lose when we can’t or won’t hear its stories. She introduces us to some of these stories via people working in coal, wood, food, development and other rural industries. In the 1870s, the Manchester Corporation Waterworks made plans to buy two small Cumbrian lakes, Wythburn Water and Leathes Water, and the land surrounding them. They wanted to build a reservoir. The city desperately needed access to clean water for its burgeoning industrial population. But the plan met with virulent opposition. Octavia Hill, later co-founder of the National Trust, set up the Thirlmere Defence Association. John Ruskin went so far as to say he thought Manchester itself ‘should be put at the bottom of the Lake of Thirlmere’. Public services in rural areas are neglected so that living in nearby towns is the only sensible option for most people. Hence, the market for new (and existing) housing is entirely focused on buyers or renters who have substantial incomes, no children and are able to look after themselves. Ownership is a crucial theme of Rural, both strictly legal ownership and subtler senses of belonging. Landowners – whether benevolent, grasping, indifferent, or rewilding – have the advantage. It is estimated that only 432 landowners possess half of Scotland’s rural land and thirty percent of England is owned by the aristocracy (where, unlike in Scotland, there is no general ‘right to roam’).

Rebecca Smith Press Reviews

I found the history, both of rural life and of her family fascinating and there are some astounding facts and statistics. I was less enamoured with how she tried to weave in her current family situation and felt the book would have been better without that. Smith said: “I am so delighted that William Collins is publishing Rural. I was really keen to tell not just my own family’s story but those of other families too who, like us, grew up in rural areas in tied housing—homes that weren’t their own. An educational and moving read that I believe no matter where you fit in society, you can enjoy … Smith beautifully stitches together the beauty, tragedy and comedy that underpins rural communities today making her book a fascinating history lesson’The Scotsman - Starting with Rebecca Smith's own family history - foresters in Cumbria, miners in Derbyshire, millworkers in Nottinghamshire, builders of reservoirs and the Manchester Ship Canal - Rural is an exploration of our green and pleasant land, and the people whose labour has shaped it. Rural is hybrid biography and exploration of Britain's most lucrative rural working-class industries over the centuries through to present day, how exactly these fit into the British cultural landscape and the type of people who underpin them. As someone who grew up in a small town in Northumberland and who remains there to this day - albeit after a detour through a variety of more heavily populated areas such as Newcastle - this book sounded appealing to me, and as other country bumpkins will know, living your formative years in a rural location makes it difficult to ever live, or more importantly be happy, in a city. Interspersing her own family history between chapters dedicated to Land; Wood; Coal; Water; Food; Slate; Textiles; Tourism; Development; Business; and Our Land, Smith explores each industry from its inception and early days and its evolution through to today.

She then tours around the northern parts of the UK to look at some of the industries that provide work and income for the local residents and what happens to their communities when those industries change or leave. A vital, questing book about the often misunderstood past, hard present-day, and possible futures of rural life in the UK' Rural tenderly reveals the precarious lives that underpin the beauty and the wealth of our countryside. Essential reading for lovers of the land and its people" In this beautifully observed book, Rebecca Smith traces the stories of foresters and millworkers, miners, builders, farmers and pub owners, to paint a picture of the working class lives that often go overlooked. Bob Mortimer wins 2023 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction with The Satsuma ComplexEvery village used to have a vicar. Now we see the vicar once every 9 weeks as he has 9 village churches to get round. It's heart warming and hopeful to hear about the community land ownership projects in Assynt and Eigg and let's hope it becomes more prolific across the country.