I'm currently reading . . . 'Content With What I Have'

Amongst the books that I'm currently reading is this great book by C Henry Warren, a true countryman, well-known for his autobiographical work A Boy in Kent.

Content With What I Have, published by Geoffrey Bles Ltd in 1967, is illustrated by Susannah Holden and has a foreword by Richard Church. In his foreword Church writes of Henry Warren's work that it 'occupies a place in English letters somewhere between the writings of the naturalists such as Gilbert White, W.H.Hudson, Richard Jefferies and those of local and rural historians who put on record the ways and techniques of the disappearing country craftsmen.'

As someone born in a small country town, growing up with the fields, woods and hedgerows as my playground, I developed from an early age a great passion for all things to do with the countryside. Hence, over the years, and particularly during my sojourn in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, much of my leisure reading has been by authors sympathetic to the British countryside and the way of life of country folk. Authors such as Fred Archer, A G Street, Richard Jefferies and many others of similar ilk, abound on my bookshelves, and C Henry Warren sits comfortably amongst them.

In Content With What I Have, Warren has moved from his boyhood domicile of Kent to the Essex countryside, an area which he adopted with the passion with which he embraces his country heritage. Written in a nostalgic and contented style, Warren never loses his eye for exacting detail, and the result is that you don't just read about the countryside of which he writes, he lets you share it for a while with him.

A highly recommended book if you can manage to find a copy. You should be lucky on Amazon and some of the other second-hand book sites.