Woodsman, Ben Law
Woodsman, Ben Law
List: $18.99 | Sale: $13.29
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Woodsman

Author: Ben Law

Narrator: Ben Law

Unabridged: 4 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Collins

Published: 03/28/2013


Synopsis

Ben Law has lived as a woodsman in Prickly Nut Wood for over 20 years. His authentic, incredible sense of the land and the wildlife, and his respect for age old traditions and how to sustain them offers a wonderful, inviting insight into the life and character of Prickly Nut Wood. Having travelled to Papua New Guinea and the Amazon, observing age-old techniques for living in, working in and preserving forests and woodland, Ben Law felt compelled to return home and apply his learnings to a 400 year old plot of woodland near where he grew up – Prickly Nut Wood. This is the story of how he came to know and love his woodland, how he lived off the land, how he coppiced and hedged and created charcoal, how he puddled and built shelter, and finally how he carved out his famous, characterful woodland home that Kevin McCloud has cited as his favourite ever Grand Design. And it’s the story of the wood itself – how it lives and breathes and affects all those who encounter it, and how it’s developed over the twenty incredible years Ben has shared in its lifespan. It’s an incredibly transporting tale that will make you long to hear the dawn chorus, and appreciate the beauty of Britain’s pockets of woodland.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Andy on January 13, 2024

If you read some of the other reviews for this book posted here I’m not sure it would help you except for the reminder that there are all kinds of people out there and some of them are simply ignorant. This book is thoughtful, informative, interesting and inspiring for those of us that recognize our......more

Goodreads review by Nicholas on March 13, 2019

Ben Law lives in the wood because his ego wouldn't fit anywhere else. Most of the book we are informed about how brilliantly he manages his woodland. Maybe this is an advert for the forestry courses he offers? But it misses the most interesting questions. How did he acquire the wood? How does his wi......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on October 27, 2017

I was recommended this by Amazon because of my interest in other 'off grid' memoirs, so it is probably Amazon's fault and not the author's, that I was disappointed. I was expecting a book about how the author came to this life, how he approached it in the beginning, what struggles he faced and where......more

Goodreads review by Lexie on May 03, 2019

I knew nothing of Ben Law beyond what I had seen in the famous Grand Designs episode – the man who built his house in the woods, of the woods, in order to make his living there. This book tells the story of how he came to live in those woods after travelling in South America and eastern Europe, his......more

Goodreads review by Marilyn on August 07, 2022

The author is rather narrow minded and ignorant when he discusses population control and somewhat praising the Chinese government’s the one child policy which lead to hundreds of thousands of forced abortions , imprisonments and fines. The author has obviously never looked at how vaccinations have i......more


Quotes

‘Ben Law is an extraordinary man’- Kevin McCloud