Once you have had a book published and it goes out into the big wide world, you have no control of what will happen to it, how it will be received, what it might become. Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris couldn’t have known how phenomenally successful The Lost Words would be and the extent to which it would inspire people around the world.
“Yes, it makes me so happy,” says Robert, “but it’s so much bigger than us now and, in a way, it’s nothing to do with us. And I think what it speaks profoundly to is this moment of loss and love and grief and hope that we live through with regard to nature.”
One of the most recent testaments to its enduring power – inspired by the creatures, art and poetry of both The Lost Words and follow-up book The Lost Spells – is the release of a second album by the Spell Singers, Spell Songs: Let the Light In. The musicians were delighted to be given the opportunity to get back together in the studio.
This is thanks to the Folk by the Oak partnership of Caroline and Adam Slough, but it all started at the Hay Festival, explains Robert. “I wrote the spells to be spoken; that was definitely always the idea, because they have to be spoken aloud for the magic to work.
“It was only a step from that for them to be sung. I asked Kerry Andrew, the brilliant composer and singer musician, if she would speak the wren spell, and she wanted to set it to music, so she created this absolutely haunting version. We played that, just because it was so magical, at an event at Hay Festival. Caroline and Adam were in the audience and turned to each other afterwards and said, ‘well, there’s an album in that book, we just need to find a way let it out’. So they then gathered this incredible group of musicians.”
Denne historien er fra March 2022-utgaven av BBC Countryfile Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra March 2022-utgaven av BBC Countryfile Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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We Are an Island Nation - So Let's Protect Our Seas - Living in the UK makes us islanders and personally I'm proud of that definition - not in any political or jingoistic sense, but simply because I love the sea and in this country we are totally surrounded by it.
Living in the UK makes us islanders and personally I'm proud of that definition - not in any political or jingoistic sense, but simply because I love the sea and in this country we are totally surrounded by it. We live inside thousands of miles of coastline, in a nation whose borders were created by nature and made us what we are.
Discover Jurassic Coast - With its towering cliffs, sweeping beaches and pretty seaside towns, the shoreline of Dorset and east Devon is spectacular.
With its towering cliffs, sweeping beaches and pretty seaside towns, the shoreline of Dorset and east Devon is spectacular. Jo Caird fossicks for fossils and dramatic rock formations. It's an auspicious start to my journey along the Jurassic Coast. This 95-mile stretch of shore mostly in Dorset, but nudging just into east Devon - is blessed with awe-inspiring geological formations and fossil deposits that have garnered it recognition as England's only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site. Snaking east from Orcombe Point near Exmouth to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage, it's studded with monumental rock arches, seemingly endless shingle beaches and fossil beds from which treasures were prised that altered our understanding of prehistory.
Viking shores
We picture Vikings marauding coastal settlements, looting and raiding. But what was life really like in the Viking Age? Historian Eleanor Barraclough reveals what the ancient artefacts found on Britain's shores tell us about our formidable forebears
Sea horses
On Cornwall's coastal clifftops, Melanie O'Shea meets the hardy grazing ponies that are helping to restore the land, so nature can flourish once more
A wing and a prayer
From their desks at Boulmer, 1,000 RAF personnel watch the skies for airborne threats to the country. Yet beyond the concrete of the base, vulnerable birdlife flourishes - thanks to the hard work of a small team
Cast in bone
Cuttlefish bones washed up on our shores have been used to make jewellery since ancient times. Jo Caird meets a craftswoman who's keeping the art alive on the Kent coast
EDIBLE SEAWEEDS
An ancient food harvested by humans for millennia, seaweeds bring an intense and rich flavour of the sea to a wide range of dishes, as well as essential mind-and-body-boosting nutrients
Spines and sulky faces
Watch where you put your feet at the beach - a weever fish could be lurking
Sea stars
The playful performances of Britain's bottlenose dolphins attract avid fans - but they deserve personal space
Harris's wildly beautiful beach
Cornwall may pull in the crowds, but one Hebridean strand stuns visitors
