LoveReading Says
The opening chapter of The Heart of the Woods follows a father, son and grandson as they plant woodland on the border between Wales and England. The middle member of that family group is Wyl Menmuir who poignantly writes about their efforts to restore what was once there, and that which has so shaped our lives, our culture, our tools and even the ornaments in our homes. He describes how the ancient wildwood which covered so much of these islands is almost entirely gone, replaced by a patchwork of fields bordered by stone and hedgerow, but there are still woods and forests which are being nurtured as we desperately attempt to reverse the devastation we wreaked upon the landscape.
This book brings our attention back to the importance of trees, of woodland and of wood. Wyl travels the country, meeting people that have made living and working with wood or with woodland their life's work, indeed their lives. A boatbuilder in Penryn. The bodgers of Cambridge. A seed collector in County Clare. An actor (Mark Rylance) at the Globe Theatre. An entire community in Scotland. Construction, biodiversity, carving, planting, hugging, coppicing, worshipping... it's all in here and as every page turns the realisation grows of just how fundamental trees have been to our species, especially at our approximate line of latitude where there has been so much diversity and abundance of wood.
There is something about the writing style of Wyl Menmuir that engages with the subject matter on an ethereal level. So deep-rooted is our connection with trees that these stories transcend the practical and the everyday. He is without doubt one of the best writers currently exploring our connection with nature, or our reconnection with it following centuries of moving away from it in the pursuit of civilisation. I loved those moments of the book where he touches down on those simple but essential symbols and simple acts of understanding between humans and trees, and how that relationship with them roots us.
We need books like The Heart of the Woods to remind us who we are, what we have lost, and where we need to get back to.
Greg Hackett
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The Heart of the Woods Synopsis
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
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