The Shining levels by John Wyatt was first published in 1973 and is the authors story of his time working as a forester in the Lake District.
My copy is a Little Toller Nature Classic reprint from 2012. The cover is from a detail from Lake Landscapes by L.S. Lowry.
John Wyatt was born in 1925 in among the factories and cotton mills of Lancashire but always felt like a country boy - escaping anytime he could to the fells and woods above the town. His first visit to the Lake District was with his Scout Group, where he found he loved the freedom and the closeness to nature. After leaving school aged 15 he spent a while working in a newspaper office, then as telegraphist in the Navy during WWII. On leaving the navy he had a few jobs but was desperate to get back to the countryside and took a job as a forest worker while doing a correspondence course on writing. He lived alone in a small hut working for the landowner and learning about the wildlife around his home.
He became a campsite warden and then the first Park Ranger for the Lake District National Park in 1961 - working alone covering 866 square miles as the Park got busier with visitors. As more Rangers were hired he became Chief Ranger in 1973 and was awarded an M.B.E. for services to the National Park.
The Shining Levels is about the early days, before the National Park when he is working for one of the landowners at coppicing, hedging and ditching while living in a small rough hut - which comes with the job.
I put my modest luggage on the bunk in the corner and leant my axe against the wall. I thought of tea. I followed the beaten path to the well, There was a frog in it , but it didn't bother me. If the water was good enough for him I would not object.........................
The only heat and way of cooking was from a wood fire which smoked terribly. Wyatt soon became an expert on wood-smoke and all the different fragrances.
A lot of the story is about him taking in a tiny Roe Deer brought to him by some well meaning Scouts who had found it "abandoned". He manages to keep it alive and calls it Buck. Buck grows and thrives and follows him around - answering to his call.
My copy of the book has illustrations of wood engravings of the Lakes by Norman Ackroyd, which don't really add much to the book. I noticed on Amazon that the original had line drawings, which look much more relevant.
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It takes a lot of energy and strength to go back to nature. Now of course John Wyatt would probably have been evicted from his hut.
ReplyDeleteDoubt anyone now would consider living in the hut even if it was free
DeleteThat sounds a really interesting book. I wonder if Buck managed to lead a normal roe deer life. Possibly not.
ReplyDeleteSaying what happened to Buck was giving too much away!
DeleteIt sounds like a Gavin Maxwell kind of book. I always enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteI think we did Ring of Bright Water at school - I need to read or re-read
DeleteThat book sounds like it would make a great read sitting by the fire on a blustery thunder-filled cold wet day like today has been :)
ReplyDeleteor in England during a dismal sort of summer. :-) !
DeleteThe book sounds like such a good read. I was in London last week at Foyles on Charing Cross Road, where I have not been for many many years. I bought a truly wonderful book called Weatherland by Alexandra Harris which won the Guardian first book award. On the front the line is ..writers and artists under an English sky. I also just read The Paris Library which is set in Paris on the brink of war. Jean in Winnipeg.
ReplyDeleteI've not read either of those books - I shall investigate
DeleteI went off to look around Better World Books for a copy of that book. There is another book by 'a' John Wyatt called 'No Mercy from the Japanese'. I'm trying to discover whether this is the same John Wyatt. The books are linked together when you search by author. I see that this John Wyatt did serve during WWII, but find no mention of this in biographical notes. Do you know anything about this?
ReplyDeleteNot the same man - I looked on Amazon at the details of the book you mention and that John Wyatt was imprisoned and worked on the Burma railway and was the only survivor of a hospital massacre . The John Wyatt of Shining Levels was only away serving on ships for a few years during the war and there's no mention of Burma in his Obituary in The Guardian Newspaper.
DeleteReminds me f Walden by Thoreau
ReplyDeleteSimilar for sure
DeleteThat sounds like a lovely book.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good read - a book to keep
DeleteLiving close to nature and the woodlands is always of interest to me. JW led an interesting life. JW seems to be one of the first to embrace land stewardship.
ReplyDeleteHe enjoyed that closeness to nature - and young enough to survive the spartan living conditions in his little hut
DeleteOff topic but wondering why I can't get to read The Diary of a Nobody at its new location. I followed it for ages and miss her writing.
ReplyDeleteIt's now a private blog and I can't read either as I couldn't get the email to connect
DeleteI don't know if I could survive living that way. My husband can tell different woods from the smell when they are burning as well.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
The only downside of a wood-burner is you can't smell the wood
DeleteIt sounds like a fascinating read. Xx
ReplyDeleteIt was a good book
DeleteSounds like a really interesting book!
ReplyDelete