Brambleby Books

Inspiration Through Nature

Bringing Home the Cows – Growing up on a wild Devon farm

Bill Symondson

This is the story of a boy growing up on a farm in the 1960s. Nine-year old Bill, the author, moves with his family from the suburbs of London to a dairy farm in North Devon, an idyllic environment where he grows up for the next ten years. Pithy anecdotes talk about his daily chores of looking after the cows and helping with the harvest, often turning into disasters – or adventures. With his dog Lucy, he roams the countryside observing wildlife, his passion, encountering birds of prey and his beloved butterflies and moths. He also loves to keep and breed many pets, particularly guinea pigs and budgerigars, yet, having to attend three different schools does not leave happy memories, until he meets the local girls – his first loves.

Sadly Bill passed away due to Covid-related complications in August this year.

Publication date: 24 October, 2023

Category: Nature writing

Paperback

RRP: £8.99

ISBN: 9781908241672

Extent: 148 pages

Ebook

RRP: £6.99

ISBN: 9781908241689

Reviews

This book is a delightful nostalgic look back at a slower pace of life in the 1960’s on a North Devon Farm. It clearly demonstrates how important it is to protect the countryside and the many eco-systems that we all need. It is written with great affection capturing all the enthusiasms of a budding young naturalist.

Jacquie Blackmore, Devon


Bill Symondson

William. O.C. (Bill) Symondson was born in 1951 in Hertfordshire but grew up in Buckinghamshire and later Devon. He read for a BA degree in English literature at Keele University, where after he and his wife Sarah ‘dropped out’, living on a smallholding in Wales. When their daughter Georgia was …

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