‘As a boy, I would walk out into the fields alone. Looking south, I set my eyes on the far ridge, wondering, not knowing, what lay beyond it. What world existed there? Now, as a man, I stand on the top of the Downs, up on the mountains green. To the south, the land folds down to the sea, but to the north the boy is there looking back at me...’

In a series of joyous, reflective and inspired diary pieces, Peter Owen Jones takes us on a voyage through the yearly cycle – a journey of inner and outer discovery. With the variety and colour of British seasonal life and the beauty of the Sussex countryside as his backdrop, Owen Jones observes the magical in the everyday – in the birds, bees and butterflies, but also in people. With lightness of touch and good humour, he calls for an awakening to the world around us, to ourselves, and ultimately to meaning in life.

Originally published as a series of separate articles in Sussex Life magazine, the essays gathered here provide a delightful glimpse into the life of a nature-loving country parson.

PETER OWEN JONES spent his early years in the countryside before working as a farm labourer. He was ordained, becoming a parish priest in 1992. He has since written a handful of books – including his most recent, Conversations with Nature (2022) – and presented several award-winning television programmes. At the time of writing he still serves as a parish priest in Sussex, England.