BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN

Sir Johnny Scott is a fine man. If you want to learn about the British Countryside, please refrain from turning to the hucksters or doomscultists. Instead look for someone like Sir J who has lived, worked and breathed our Countryside – I am sure he won’t mind me saying – for rather a few years.

Always better to find a doer covered in sweat and mud than hypocritical sayers whining about oil whilst wearing puffer jackets made from plastics and polyfluorinated chemicals.

For those who do not know him, Sir Johnny wrote and co-presented the BBC2 series Clarissa and the Countryman with Clarissa Dickson Wright. He writes for a variety of magazines and periodicals on field sports, food, farming, travel, history and rural affairs. Can I just add that he has always been very encouraging towards the countryside, its campaigners and sports.

I reviewed Sir J’s ‘The Countryman’ back in February last year. ‘The Countryman sets forth again’ is the sequel and is set in similar seasonal sections, split into forty-five short and very readable chapters. This book is also beautifully written, replete with historical examples and the occasional ascent into poetry.

Here are all aspects of country life described in vivid detail, from the flora and fauna to the folklore. Descriptions of ancient customs feature alongside accounts of pigeon racing and hound trailing; and stories of exotic plant hunters from past centuries. Readers will encounter mad March hares, owls, ravens, bats, pike, eels, and the rare capercaillie. Other subjects include coppicing, ancient trees, hanging game, stoats, terriers and, that perennial British favourite, the weather. The author also takes us back to his childhood with memories of charcoal burners and of harvesting wild food. There is no class struggle here as the whole village melts into the pot of country sports.

There’s a detectable sadness that returns in this book; that Sir J’s love for the Countryside is not replicable for each and every child in Great Britain. His love of our countryside is so deep that he finds it inexplicable why others cannot feel the same, or try to abuse it for power, in bitter pursuit of privilege-checking or just for money.

Sir J laments the loss of so much of the British Countryside during his lifetime and how people have lost their connection to the natural world:

“When I was a child, all children of my age had one thing in common, regardless of background; nature was our principal source of daily entertainment. To be outside, whatever the weather, was considered an essential, healthy, beneficial and profitable way for the young to spend their time.”

Hopefully if people read this book they will send their children or grandchildren out into the countryside to learn, join sports and explore. Maybe they will let them run around without first consulting the health and safety department. For those townies who have just moved to the countryside, these books from Sir J are a must read – a way of empathising with the sensibilities of those amongst whom you now reside.

This is a great book that shall accompany The Countryman on the small and select bookshelf beside my downstairs loo. Another book to graze on and learn from – short chapter at a time.

Chapeau, Sir J. Keep your pen close at hand. Fans await the trilogy.

The Countryman sets forth again is published by Quiller and is available to buy here.

Dominic Wightman is Editor of Country Squire Magazine.

Sir (Walter) John Scott, Bt. MFH. Sir Johnny (as he is better known) is an author, natural historian, broadcaster, columnist, countryside campaigner, artisan snuff manufacturer and retired hill farmer. He wrote and co-presented the BBC2 series Clarissa and the Countryman with Clarissa Dickson Wright. He writes for a variety of magazines and periodicals on field sports, food, farming, travel, history and rural affairs. A lifetime devotee of the countryside and its sports, he is currently: Joint Master and Chairman, The North Pennine Hunt; Regional Director, Vote OK; President, The Gamekeepers Welfare Trust; President, The Tay Valley Wildfowlers Association; President, The Newcastle Wildfowlers Association; President, The Association of Working Lurchers / Longdogs; Centenary Patron and Honorary Life Member, British Association for Shooting and Conservation; Patron, The Sporting Lucas Terrier Association; Patron, The Wildlife Ark Trust; Patron, The National Organisation of Beaters and Pickers Up; Board member, The European Squirrel Initiative.