Author(s): Peter Owen Jones

Architecture & Interiors

What is it that makes the ideal English village? Firle in East Sussex is both unique and universal. First of all there is a pub and in no particular order come a school, a shop, a cricket pitch, a church, a stream, a blacksmith, allotments, flint walls, house martins. Above all, the village seems to contain that rarest of ingredients, delight. Firle sits literally at the end of the road. It is the last place you can reach by car before coming in summer to a wandering line of chalk and in winter to something a little muddier. Beyond the road are the wild landscapes of the South Downs, sleeping and keeping the bones of those who were first to arrive at the end of the last ice age. It is the connection between village, people and these hills which makes it such a special place. In a delightful photo essay, acclaimed photographer Eamonn J. McCabe captures some of what makes this English village come alive. Big open skies, small boys holding a colourful caterpillar, cabbages and tea cosies, bonfires, bikers, dogs and wellies. This is a book for all those who cherish English country life.