I had previously read Meadowland by the same author and really enjoyed the style of John Lewis-Stempel’s writing, so relaxed and almost poetic in his love of the countryside.

This book jumps between a personal biography of John’s relationships with ponds and a pond throughout the year, how ponds have influenced landscape, and how ponds have been used in their relationship with human development.

The descriptive prose really envelops you in John’s world and the world of the flora and fauna of the various ponds and seasons that are described. This really has come home to me this year as one of the touchstones that has helped keep me going this year is a large pond that I stop to say hello to the fish and fowl on my daily walk.

A book that really makes you think about our relationship and the importance of a piece of geography that we often pass by written with such love it makes you want to hug the book.