Audiobooks by Wyl Menmuir

The Heart of the Woods

Just as a parent leaves a legacy to their child, a tree leaves a legacy to its surroundings. A deep and explorative companion piece to the Roger Deakin Award-winning The Draw of The Sea. Throughout history, trees have determined the tools we use, the boats we build, the stories we tell about the world and ourselves, the songs we sing, and some of our most important rituals. As such, our lives are intertwined with those of the trees and woodlands around us. In this journey deep into the woods, Wyl Menmuir travels the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland to meet the people who plant trees, the ecologists who study them, those who shape beautiful objects and tools from wood, and those who use them to help others. Wyl also explores how our relationship with trees is enduring, now and in the future - what we get out of spending time around trees, the ways in which our relationship with them has changed over time, and the ways in which our future is interconnected with theirs. Written in close collaboration with makers, crafters, bodgers, and woodsmen and women in order to better understand the woods they know so well, the joys and frustrations of working with a living material, and the stories of their craft and skills, The Heart of The Woods will delight anyone who enjoys walking among the trees, and anyone who, when lost, has found themselves in the woods. Chapters include: WOODLAND PLANTER: A woodland in becoming and an ancient yew grove on the border of North Wales and England RITUAL WEAVER: Willow coffin making in Cornwall WOODLORE GATHERER: Science among the trees at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire HEARTWOOD CARVER: Among the bodgers in a field outside Cambridge BOAT BUILDER: A woodland community in the heart of Glasgow's former docklands LANDSCAPE SHAPER: Re-wilding the Scottish Highlands and an organised trespass in Devon WISH WEARER: The clootie well at Munlochy on The Black Isle, Scottish Highlands, a family tree on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, and the tree at Sycamore Gap, Northumbria FOREST BATHER: Swimming at Swallowship Pool, Devil's Water, and Letah Woods Northumberland MYTH WALKER: Walks in the fictional woods at Wenlock Edge, Shropshire WAY FOLLOWER: Traditional carpentry in Takayama, Japan FIRE LIGHTER: The stories we find among the flames and embers, Ennistymon, Ireland  SOUND CREATOR: A pub on Ireland's west coast and a guitar-builder in North Wales  APPLE WAILER: Wassailing in Cornwall TREE WORSHIPPER: An ancient yew grove in North Wales

Wyl Menmuir (Author), Wyl Menmuir (Narrator)

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The Draw of the Sea

Wyl Menmuir's The Draw of the Sea is a beautifully written and deeply moving portrait of the Cornish Coast and the people who make their livings there, examining the ephemeral but universal pull the sea holds over the human imagination. 'A beautiful portrait of lives shaped by the swell of ocean and tide - a powerful salt-thread of connection' -  Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path Since the earliest stages of human development, the sea has fascinated and entranced us. It feeds us, sustaining communities and providing livelihoods, but it also holds immense destructive power which can take all those away in an instant.   It connects us to far away places, offering the promise of new lands and voyages of discovery, but also shapes our borders, carving divisions between landmasses and eroding the very ground beneath our feet. In this beautifully-written meditation on what it is that draws us to the waters' edge, author Wyl Menmuir tells the stories of the people whose lives revolve around the sea in the Cornish community where he lives. In twelve interlinked chapters, Menmuir explores the lives of local fishermen steeped in the rich traditions of a fishing community, the beachcombers who wander the shores in search of the varied objects which wash ashore and the stories they tell, and all number of others who have made their lives on the beautiful Cornwall coast.  In the specifics of these livelihoods and their rich histories and traditions, Wyl Menmuir captures the universal human connection to the sea. Into this seductive tapestry, Wyl weaves the story of how the sea has beckoned, consoled and restored him. This book is a meaningful and moving work into how we interact with the environment around us, and how it comes to shape the course of our lives. As unmissable as it is compelling, as profound as it is personal, this must-read book will delight anyone familiar with the intimate and powerful pull which the sea holds over us.

Wyl Menmuir (Author), Wyl Menmuir (Narrator)

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