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This is not my land
30 Years on a Small Cotswolds Farm
Introduction
This is Not My Land is award-winning travel writer Caroline Mills' enchanting narrative about life on a small farm in the heart of the English countryside.
Background
In 1995, when Caroline and her partner Paul were in their early 20s, they bought 65 acres of land on the edge of the north Cotswolds. Initially, they regarded it innocently as just land - something, hopefully, from which to make a living. Then they gave the land a name, and it became something.
Historical Context
In almost 500 years, Caroline's land has had just four owners, including King Henry VIII. Walking repeatedly around the same five meadows and woodland, she witnesses how the farm and the surrounding landscape evolve across three decades.
Themes and Approach
Realising that five fields and a wood is a big world in a small space, Caroline's nature writing exemplifies slow travel in its most microcosmic form. This is Not My Land brings the English countryside to life through a series of vignettes or journeys.
Activities and Discoveries
Learn how Caroline and her partner learn to manage and expand a designated wildlife site, how they build an eco-house and how they interact with nature. Join Caroline in finding enjoyment in wildlife: the barn owl that tracks up and down the meadow at dusk, the plumes of chimney sweeper moths that feed on the pignuts in spring, the migrant redwing flock that she awaits every autumn, and the ecstatic excitement of a skylark's arrival after 20 years of waiting.
Reflections and Insights
This is Not My Land recounts 30 years of living on and with the land, discovering an extraordinary 1,000-year history, transitioning to organic certification before it became fashionable (again), raising a family that becomes integral to the farm's identity, and learning its sense of place.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Caroline realises that what she once regarded as merely land is an increasingly rare and exceptional mosaic landscape—one with which she falls in love so deeply that it becomes unthinkable to her that anyone would wish to harm it, least of all those that with the power and duty to protect.
