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Packed with stunning colour photographs, The Woodland Year is an intimate month-by-month journey through Ben Law's yearly cycle of work, his naturally attuned lifestyle and his deep understanding of the wood in which he lives. Each month includes guest contributions from woodlanders in other parts of England and Wales. The Woodland Year provides a fascinating insight to every aspect of sustainable woodland management; the cycles of nature, seasonal tasks, wild food gathering, winemaking, mouthwatering and useful recipes, coppice crafts, round pole timber frame eco-building (pioneered by Ben in the UK), nature conservation, species diversity, tree profiles and the use of horses for woodland work. This is a profound book that is both practical and poetic. It describes a way of life that is economically and ecologically viable and sets a new standard for managing our woods in a low-impact, sustainable way. As such, it holds some of the fundamental keys to how we can achieve a lower-carbon society.
Ben Law has always had a passion for healthy, biodiverse farms and woodlands. Having gained an Advanced National Certificate in Agriculture, Ben became a shepherd and set up a conservation landscaping business, specialising in ponds and wild flower meadows. Bens appearance on Channel 4's Grand Designs is the most watched in the series history, is the hosts and publics favourite episode and was one of the 25 programmes chosen to represent Channel 4's 25th anniversary. Ben visited the Amazon in the late 1980s looking for positive solutions to deforestation and on his return set up and directed the charity, The Forest Management Foundation, working primarily with community forestry in Papua New Guinea. He has also worked for Oxfam as a permaculture consultant. Ben was a founding member of the Forest Stewardship Council and has lived and worked at Prickly Nut Woods in West Sussex, UK, since 1991; training apprentices and running courses on sustainable woodland management, eco-building and permaculture design. He runs a specialist eco-building company, The Roundwood Timber Framing Company Limited. 318 colour photographs
"One of Ben Law's remarkable gifts, besides being arguably Britain's greatest living woodsman, is a knack for inspiring others. The Woodland Year is a month-by-month journey through Ben's woodland in the Sussex Weald, and a celebration of every aspect of sustainable woodland management. In words that are often lyrical but always ungilded, he describes a way of life that is both economically and ecologically viable. As such, it holds some of the fundamental keys to how we can achieve a more sustainable, lower-carbon society. Ben is a true pioneer and is quite simply creating a woodland renaissance in Britain. Read this, and you will surely want to be part of it."
– From the Foreword by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, TV chef, author and campaigner
"Ben Law has written a wonderful account of life as a woodsman taking the reader through the natural cycle of a calendar year. As I read I found the connection that Ben has with nature almost hypnotic and strangely calming. I could almost feel the surroundings he described. This is a beautifully presented book with inspiring ideas and Permanent Publications should be proud of what they have produced. If you buy this book for someone just make sure they agree to lend it back to you. Or better still get yourself a copy at the same time."
– Richard Barnett, New Forest Transition
"It is not only the beauty of the photographs that brings this book to life. It is the intimacy of the writing and Ben Law's extraordinary, wide-ranging knowledge about woods. This is not a how-to book for a trainee woodsman. It is more of a lyrical call for readers to work more in harmony with nature, and to appreciate the resources that lie around them. As such it works. I, for one, will be walking in my local woods with my eyes newly attuned to my surroundings."
– Clare Reddaway on www.greenprophet.com
