John Lewis-Stempel

The extraordinary story of British junior officers in the First World War, who led their men out of the trenches and faced a life expectancy of six weeks....

Meadowland gives a unique and intimate account of an English meadow’s life from January to December, together with its biography....

Cockshutt is a particular wood - three and half acres of mixed woodland in southwest Herefordshire - but it stands as exemplar for all the small woods of England....

The pond. Nothing in the countryside is more humble or more valuable. It’s the moorhen’s reedy home, the frog’s ancient breeding place, the kill zone of the beautiful dragonfly. More than a hundred rare and threatened fauna and flora depend on it....

As the human world settles down each evening, nocturnal animals prepare to take back the countryside. Taking listeners on four walks through the four seasons, acclaimed nature writer and farmer John Lewis-Stempel reveals a world bursting with life and normally hidden from view....

Is there any bird more mysterious than the cuckoo? It is invariably heard, and not seen. And if seen, it is mistaken for a sharp-winged hawk. The female cuckoo—by a trick that borders on alchemy—is able to disguise its egg as another's.

Skylarks are the heralds of our countryside. Their music is the quintessential sound of spring. The spirit of English pastoralism, they inspire poets, composers and farmers alike. In the trenches of World War I, they were a reminder of the chattering meadows of home....

From the Paleozoic volcanoes that stained its soil, to the Saxons who occupied it, to the Tudors who traded its wool, to the Land Girls of wartime, John Lewis-Stempel charts a sweeping, lyrical history of Woodston: the quintessential English farm....

The fox is our apex predator, our most beautiful and clever killer. We have witnessed its wild touch, watched it slink by bins at night and been chilled by its scream. And yet we long to stroke the tumbling cubs outside their tunnel homes and watch the vixen stalk the cornfield....

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Glorious Life of the Oak by John Lewis-Stempel, read by Leighton Pugh....

On capture, British officers and men were routinely told by the Germans, “For you the war is over”. Nothing could have been further from the truth....

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Secret Life of the Owl by John Lewis-Stempel, read by Roy McMillan....

Traditional ploughland is disappearing. Seven cornfield flowers have become extinct in the last 20 years. Once abundant, the corn bunting and the lapwing are on the Red List....

In a stunning package, England: A Natural History is the definitive volume on the English landscape and the capstone of John Lewis-Stempel's nature writing.

For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned once again to live in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing. And so, buying an old honey-coloured limestone house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new life as peasant farmers....