Ronald Blythe
Ronald Blythe inherited an ancient farmhouse and a three-acre garden from the artist-plantsman John Nash who created a naturalistic idyll in a fold of the Stour valley in Constable country.
The delectable garden is a backdrop to Ronald Blythe's weekly column, Word From Wormingford, which appeared on the back page of the Church Times for over 20 years and was praised as one of the finest journalistic columns by the Guardian. It has been collected by Canterbury Press in ten volumes.
As the garden evolves through the year, Ronald Blythe celebrates the gifts of each season in these collections of columns, blending literature, poetry, spirituality and memory as he muses on the world from his garden gate.
Ronald Blythe CBE is considered one of the greatest writers on the English countryside. His work, which has won countless awards, includes Akenfield (a Penguin 20th Century Classic and a feature film). In 2006 he was awarded the Royal Society of Literature’s prestigious Benson Medal. He died in 2023.
