Laurie Lee’s As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning tells the tales of Lee’s venture out of the bucolic Cotswolds of his childhood on a walking journey that takes him into London then through Spain, at 19 year old. A book of discovery, slow paced adventure and wanderings of a young man setting out to see the world. Laurie walks in a wine-fueled heat-haze through Spain in the months leading up to the Spanish Civil War, in a country so very different to his own. As the author said himself, “I carried a small rolled-up tent, a violin in a blanket, a change of clothes, a tin of treacle biscuits, and some cheese. I was excited, vain-glorious, knowing I had far to go; but not, as yet, how far.”
It is a great read and perfect for a weekend of reading in the sun dreaming of an adventure on foot into an unknown and changing land, in the heat of the Summer!
Laurie Lee, for all his travels returned to his home and the place that inspired him the most – the village of Slad where he lived for the rest of his life, deeply rooted in this valley in the Cotswolds and the vivid village life he portrays so well.
Laurie Lee’s Cider With Rosie is a classic of English rural writing, describing life in Slad Valley – along the Cotswold’s Way – in the early 20th Century. A slow rustic and picturesque way of life, long associated with rural England, filled with eccentric locals and unpretentious poetry. Perhaps now with our lives stripped back to their essentials, a lack of easy travel, an awareness of the small joys in the intricate moments of a sometimes slow daily life, this book is the perfect companion. You can read this book while dreaming of the rural settings deep in the English countryside, the birds, wildlife, farm yards and manual labour of the fields, and you can read this book to escape into the timeless stories of a childhood paradise and a longing to discover more of the world as he grows up, Laurie’s passions and dreams.
Something for everyone in these wonderful autobiographical novels, and perfect for a weekend of reading, dreaming and walking. We run walking tours through Slad and throughout the Cotswolds – for more information on the trips we run, head to Active England’s Walking in the Cotswolds to see what walking journeys you could join us on in 2020 and 2021!
