Overview

Author Jamie Blackett arrives home from the Army to take over a small family estate on the Solway Firth in Dumfries and Galloway, and finds a rapidly changing countryside. In a humorous and occasionally moving tale, he describes the return of the native to grapple with the intricacies of farming, conservation and estate management, telling the story of founding a pack of foxhounds and a herd of pedigree beef cattle. Part childhood memoir, part biopic of rural life, readers are transported to a remote and beautiful part of Scotland and acquainted with its wildlife, its people and its customs. One minute he is unblocking his septic tank, and the next he is watching Glenn Close film a sex scene in his bedroom. The book follows in the tradition of countryside classics by John Lister-Kaye, James Herriot and James Rebanks. Set over the first two decades of the twenty-first century, through the Scottish independence referendum, Brexit and the hunting ban, the result is an enlightened review of the challenges threatening a vulnerable way of life and an emerging philosophy about the directions Scotland, farming and the countryside might take in the brave new world of Brexit.

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9781846893902

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Reviews

Apropos reading, may I recommend two recent discoveries. The second is Red Rag to a Bull, by Jamie Blackett. Also beautifully written, there is no better one-volume guide to rural matters. Every politician should read it, as should anyone who cares about the countryside. It is a pleasure from first page to last. -- Bruce Anderson * The Spectator * What a brilliant, enlightening and amusing book, about the real countryside. It should be read by politicians, bureaucrats, ramblers, wildlife-lovers, townies, blow-ins and bumpkins like me. What a read! -- Robin Page Jamie Blackett's new book is a bracing breath of Borders air. Not an angry caricature nor a blinkered polemic, Blackett has delivered something else entirely. And something rather valuable. Funny, well-considered and engagingly written, Blackett's book is one that encapsulates a moment in time. -- Alexandra Henton * The Field * Blackett has written an entertaining and engaging book on a subject that will resonate strongly with those who live and work in rural Britain. An enjoyable book that does so much to educate. -- Paul de Zulueta * Guards Magazine * ...Blackett provides a passionate plea that the livelihoods dependent on the Scottish countryside are as important as the growing generation of urbanites focused predominantly on the tech and service industries. An enlightening read for everyone from the true country bumpkins to the modern city slicker. * Scottish Field Magazine * This book is a reflection, by turns poetic and gritty, on two decades of life at what Jamie Blackett calls 'the silage-pit face'... He has to cope with the Scottish Government, unsafe trees and the implementation of the hunting ban. He's literally living the dream, given that dreams are generally odd, disconcerting and irrational, as well as, in recollection, at times very funny. -- Clive Aslet * Country Life * This book should be compulsory reading for all those townies who long to live in the country after a week in a holiday cottage... Wildlife, hunting and much hilarity pack this volume, perhaps best described as James Herriot meets the Irish RM. In this wonderful, humorous book, beautifully observed and written book, Blackett tells us something of the tribulations of a farmer in these benighted times. -- James Stevens Curl * The Jackdaw *

Author Information

Jamie Blackett is a former army officer and a farmer on the beautiful Arbigland peninsula on the Solway Firth in Dumfries and Galloway. He is also an award-winning journalist and a regular columnist for the Daily Telegraph, Country Life and other publications. He appears regularly on television and radio as a commentator on politics and rural issues. His first book, The Enigma of Kidson has been adapted for the stage. Land of Milk and Honey is the sequel to his second book, the much-acclaimed Red Rag to a Bull. In 2020 he won the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust award for journalism and his essay has been published in a short book On Wilding. Jamie is married with two grown-up children.

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