Born in Wiltshire and the son of a farmer, Richard Jeffries had an abiding love for nature and was a prolific writer on the subject. In this collection of beautifully-written essays Jeffries attempts to distill the essence of nature and of life in the country into prose and to impart the wonder he feels when immersed in nature. In all the pieces collected here, a different aspect of the countryside or its people is vividly brought to life, such as when describing the face of an old man as 'twisted like the fantastic turns of a gnarled tree-trunk, hollowed and decayed'. In The Open Air Jeffries displays his talent for descriptive writing again and again with crystal-clear descriptions and an emotionally-charged, poetic style.