Tir - by Carwyn Graves (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A journey through the natural landscapes of Wales.

In Tir--the Welsh word for "land"--writer and ecologist Carwyn Graves takes us on a tour of seven key characteristics of the Welsh landscape. He explores such elements as the ffridd, or mountain pasture, and the rhos, or wild moorland, and examines the many ways humans interact with and understand the natural landscape around them. Further, he considers how this understanding can be used to combat climate change and improve wildlife populations and biodiversity.

By diving deep into the history and ecology of each of these landscapes, we discover that Wales, in all its beautiful variety, is just as much a human cultural creation as a natural phenomenon: its raw materials evolved alongside the humans that have lived here since the ice receded.

Review Quotes

"This absorbing and constantly illuminating book is about many things, as its author asserts: it is about farming and conservation, literature and ecology, nature and culture. It also attests to Graves' dedicated diligence as a researcher and to a curiosity employed in the service of envisioning a sustainable future for the Welsh countryside.It also speaks to his ability to explain complex things with clarity, much like cutting a path through the brambles without damaging the briar patch.

In this he is aided by the many experts he meets as he crosses and climbs the land, from shepherds to weavers, from vegetable growers to dedicated restorers of hay meadows. In so doing he presents 'the human and natural ecology of Wales through...its sayings, its myths, its references and resonances...looking through a farmer's and a forager's eye ­- rather than purely through the lens of ecology.'"

-- "Nation.Cymru"

"Into this dismal world, Carwyn's book Tir enters like a breath of fresh air. I can't even begin to convey the riches of the book or the astonishing amount of complexity Carwyn somehow manages to cram into its few pages--perhaps I'll write a lengthier appreciation another time--but the book is an invitation into a different way of seeing. Not an overgeneralized screed about the evils of farming or human impacts worldwide, but a close look at the intertwined culture history and landscape history of a place, or in fact a set of places, enabling a long and local view of how their human and more-than-human ecologies have played out in the past, and may play out in the future."-- "resilience"

"Published in the midst of high-stakes negotiations between farmers' organisations and the Welsh Government on land use and livelihoods--and in the context of a Europe-wide rumbling rural rebellion--Carwyn Graves' new book is more than a history of the Welsh landscape. It is an important contribution to contemporary politics and our understanding of what Welsh culture is."-- "the welsh agenda"

"As he maps out some of the distinctive features that make up the landscape of Wales Carwyn Graves shows us how this tapestry of features and habitats is a living place, and a place where people make a living. In a chaotic, challenging time for farming and wildlife his is a steady voice, his secateurs of measured prose cutting through thickets of babble to show us how a future Wales can sustain people and increase wildlife.

Much like his books about apples or Welsh food Graves again proves to be a diligent researcher and engagingly clear writer, offering us a book shot through with historical facts and bright vignettes of modern living. From goose grazing to peat harvesting, from agroforestry to the myriad wonders of hay meadows, this is an engaging book of exploration, examination and, ultimately, of illumination."-- "Jon Gower"

About the Author

Carwyn Graves is an author, public speaker, gardener, and amateur ecologist from Wales. His books include Apples of Wales and Welsh Food Stories.