Landscape becomes alive to us when its beauty fills us with personal delight and a fulfilling sense of wonder. This was certainly true of 19th century country writer Richard Jefferies. For him, his own native Wiltshire was his ‘beloved land’.
Richard Jefferies
This magnificent old thatched cottage (photo by Dr Duncan Pepper – geograph) was occupied by the gamekeeper on the Burderop estate, in Wiltshire.
As a youth Jefferies used to walk with the gamekeeper here learning from him how to listen for the faintest rustle in the hedgerow, or watch for the slightest movement of creatures in the grass.
As a result Jefferies came to know and love his home area well as he walked its fields and lanes in all weathers and all seasons. Reflecting on his own patch, he wrote of a:
‘feeling of delighted and emotional involvement, of the deepening and fulfilling sense of wonder that stems from a profound attachment to the be-loved district that is our home territory.’
This collection of essays was my first introduction to Jefferies’ writing.
Meadow Thoughts, Just before Winter, Among the Nuts, The Acorn- gatherer, The Makers of Summer and The Rookery are some of my own favourites.
In The Acorn- gatherer he writes:
‘The happiest creatures in the world are the rooks at the acorns….The inward clucking when a friend lets his acorn drop tip-tap from bough to bough. Amid such plenty they cannot quarrel or fight, having no cause of battle, but they can boast of success, and do so in the loudest of voices.’
Watching Wildlife
As we walk with Jefferies we watch the movements of dippers and otters in the stream and see a young cuckoo being fed by a meadow pipit. We listen to the corncrake croaking in the field and observe a bat roost in the evening. Always with the background hum of insects – a sign of summer’s arrival.
We wander along the beach at the water’s edge to see what things the tide has brought us
‘wet and gleaming, up from the depths of some unknown past, where they nestled in the root crevices of trees forgotten before Egypt.’
Everything is here and everything is noticed in the richly diverse countryside of Jefferies’ day. He watched it all full of wonder, sharing in the joy and playfulness of the natural world.
Rural Life
In Jefferies’ day the landscape was filled with people working in the fields, but they were difficult times of agricultural decline. Wages were low and work was hard for local country people. Having grown up in a poor farming community Jefferies championed their cause with sympathetic understanding.
We meet gypsies in the woods sleeping rough under the stars and watch a charcoal- burner busy at his work. We pass the barn full of grain, watching the sparrows flit in and out helping themselves, something the humble cottagers would never dare to do.
For a time Richard Jefferies lived in this seaside house in Goring, West Sussex in what is now called Jefferies Lane. He came here looking for better health, but sad to say, his short life ended prematurely at 38.
Though his writing is from a bygone age, his joy and delight in nature still inspires us:
‘The thrush is of quite a different opinion, so is the rabbit, also all the ‘hedge people’, down to the owl and the bat in the evening; they are equally persuaded that the gateway was constructed for them….Sometimes weeks go by and no human being comes near, but they (the hedge people) are continually there and always using it. The gateway is, therefore theirs.’
For more visit the Richard Jefferies Society website
Do you have your own ‘special place’ or ‘beloved land’? Mine is now the glorious South Downs of Sussex. We live just 2-3 miles from Jefferies’ last home and often pass it in ‘Jefferies Lane‘, Goring.
A Listening Heart 
Lovely, thank you. I’ve one of his books, “Field and Hedgerow” which was originally my Dad’s. I’m a wildlife photographer and I refer to it ever so often. I’d never before met anyone who’d even heard of Mr. Jefferies so it was a treat to read your blog post today. Thank you!
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Thank you. So pleased to know you enjoy Richard Jefferies’ ‘Field and Hedgerow’. I know at least one other of my followers who is also a fan of Jefferies. I live only about three miles from Jefferies’ last house here in Sussex.. I gather ‘Field and Hedgerow’ was the last collection he produced. If only he had live longer he might have written more about Sussex. Do you know you can read his works online at the Project Gutenberg website. All the best for your photography.
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Oooh, no, I did not know about Gutenberg. Thank you for the tip. Much appreciated! I live in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada, a very small town, indeed Canada’s southern-most mainland town, on the north shore of Lake Erie about a half hour’s drive south-east of the Windsor/Detroit border. Our local library (teeny-tiny) does not have any Jefferies’ books. I’ve tried to purchase some on-line but they’re all very expensive and the bidding always gets way out of hand. Knowing about Gutenberg is a boon for me and definitely this week’s sweet happy. Thank you so much. Also, I love your blog and after reading each post am always eager for the next. Pam.
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Sorry Jefferies’ books are so hard to find where you are Pam. Our local library has several of them for loan. I bought my second hand hardback copy of ‘Beloved Land’ on amazon.co.uk for just under £6. Enjoy reading Jefferies’ books online at Gutenberg. There’s lots to read there. Let us know how you get on. .- Richard
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I had no idea Amazon sold used items. Now I’m on the hunt…
Thank you so much!
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Hi Pamela, nice to read this. There’s a strong following for Jefferies, and a very active Society. Should you wish, here’s a link to their website. https://www.richardjefferiessociety.org/ Andrew (Membership Secretary)
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PS: Jefferies Great Grandaughter lives in Ontario. Many of Jefferies family are in Canada.
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I read some Richard Jefferies after being introduced to him by Clive Bennett. I’ve read 3 but have others still to read.
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I enjoy reading Jefferies for the picture he gives of rural England in the past. We have lost so much in our present day countryside. How wonderful to have cuckoos and corncrakes back as common birds today!
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The Richard Jefferies Society is most grateful to Richard Sutton for writing this article and thank you for adding a link to our website. Jefferies has an amazing facility to paint pictures with words that provide a strong sense of place. He was only 38 years old when he died and he had achieved a remarkable level of quality writing, particularly about nature and his own personal thoughts.
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Thank you. I wish the Society well in making Jefferies’ writings more widely known. We live 2-3 miles from Jefferies’ last home here in West Sussex. How we wish he had lived longer to write more about our lovely South Downs.
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