Sixteen Acres: The Life of an Apple Orchard

A year on a small apple orchard with Hana Loftus teaches us so much about the history of modern agriculture, the minutiae of climate crisis, and shows how the form and flavour of an apple can contain so much of human culture. I was captivated by the beauty of Loftus's prose, by her brilliant critical interventions into the question of 'tradition', and by her passionate love for odd apples -- Rebecca May Johnson, author of SMALL FIRES A delightful book and a rewarding immersion in land wisdom -- Tristan Gooley, author of HOW TO READ A TREE An utterly engrossing and captivating glimpse of a vanishing world -- Dave Goulson, author of SILENT EARTH A hypnotic and poetic exploration of the life of the orchard. I found it fascinating, and the gentle unwinding of time to establish the orchard in question brought me a deep feeling of connection to the natural world. A love song to the seasons and to the old ways, I gobbled SIXTEEN ACRES up in big, juicy, nourishing bites! -- Roisin Macguire, author of SNOW BIRDS A poignant and personal tale of orchards and apples, told with tenderness and love -- Dr James Canton, author of THE OAK PAPERS In an historic orchard on the Essex border, Hana Loftus walks and admiringly records the lives of the farmer Andrew and his predecessors, whose cultivation of nearly three hundred varieties of apple, pears, cherries, plums, gages, quinces and medlars, is detailed in this lyrical and compelling calendar of the rural year, told with warm affection -- Ken Worpole, author of LAST LANDSCAPES