Richard Jefferies was arguably the most important writer of the English countryside there has ever been. His influence down the decades has been immense with writers like Henry Williamson, Edward Thomas and Robert MacFarlane all suggesting their writing is as a result of his works. The view above is Coate Farmhouse, his boyhood home and from where he wandered the fields and hills of this area of Wiltshire. Sadly most of the area he loved so much is this year being turned over to building land and so it was with a certain irony that today I attended the first AGM of the newly re-formed Jefferies Museum Trust, of which I have been honoured to be asked to be a trustee. I'm so thrilled and excited to be involved with this new venture, to actually be a small cog in a much larger machine which will eventually transform this wonderful asset into a museum of joy and exploration for everyone who loves the outdoors. Big changes ahead, thus as a record then, just before I went into the meeting this snap of the original farmhouse on a wonderful spring day to remind me the journey really begins here, as did many of Jefferies own journeys.
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