Richard Jefferies

"The heavens were as much a part of life as the elms, the oak, the house, the garden and orchard, the meadow and the brook".

from Bevis by Richard Jefferies, who was born at Coate and spent his early life there.

"If we had never before looked upon the earth, but suddenly came to it man or woman grown, set down in the midst of a summer mead, would it not seem to us a radiant vision? The hues, the shapes, the song and life of birds, above all the sunlight, the breath of heaven, resting on it; the mind would be filled with its glory, unable to grasp it, hardly believing that such things could be mere matter and no more. Like a dream of some spirit-land it would appear, scarce fit to be touched lest it should fall to pieces, too beautiful to be long watched lest it should fade away. So it seemed to me as a boy, sweet and new like this each morning; and even now, after the years that have passed, and the lines they have worn in the forehead, the summer mead shines as bright and fresh as when my foot first touched the grass."

from Wild Flowers

Richard Jefferies House and Museum, Coate

Richard Jefferies Links

The Richard Jefferies Society

The Life and Works of Richard Jefferies by Simon Coleman, which includes much fascinating information and quotes from the great man's works

Swindon Borough Council's page on the Richard Jefferies Museum which includes a blurb which now sounds sadly ironic: "His early years were spent wandering around the [Coate] farmlands... His passion for nature - he was a keen naturalist - and recollection of a way of country life seen through the eyes of a growing boy and now sadly gone, are recalled in his almost ecstatic, dream-like prose."