Whether by outstanding writers like Maeve Binchy and Laurie Lee, or by popular public figures like Brian Redhead and Barbara Woodhouse, these Country Childhood columns are all fascinating in the way that they provide us with insights into each person s character and later career.

There is also great variety: cook Nigel Slater, for example, writes about how he disliked moving to the country when he was young, while the geographical range stretches from Scotland to Cornwall and Ireland to East Anglia.

This is a hugely enjoyable book, which also gives us a wonderfully evocative record of twentieth century country life.