Christchurch Press, New Zealand (4 October 2008)
‘Who hasn't thought, occasionally, of chucking it all in and starting up a
new life in the country?
After years in France climbing the corporate ladder, Ian Walthew finds
himself back in his native England and, with a working life looming in
London, does just that, although it must be said more by accident than by
design..
On a whim, he and his wife buy a cottage in the Cotswolds – surely one of
England's prettiest regions.
Walthew is something of a burnt-out case when they arrive, and the story of
this book is as much one of his own regeneration and coming to terms with
his past, as it is an account of a life in the country.
As Walthew adapts to his new situation, it is his neighbour, Norman, a
struggling, small-scale farmer (who barely acknowledges the new arrivals in
the first few months) who gradually becomes the focal point of much of their
day-to-day existence. Having lived what could be seen as a fairly typical
modern life, flitting around the world for work and leisure, Walthew has his
eyes opened to his own country by a man who has rarely left the area.
Through Norman – and his hard, battling, rustic life – Walthew develops a
greater appreciation of what is there, and, just as importantly, what is
being lost as the rural landscape – both social and physical – is
irrevocably altered by 'progress'. It is a disappearing life – traditional
farms pushed aside by bigger operations and developers catering to affluent
lifestylers.
Walthew is not a hopeless romantic – he is well aware of the economic forces
at work. But you can't help but feel that on many scores he's absolutely
right, and while the country may be economically richer, it will be socially
poorer as Norman and the likes are gradually squeezed from the land.
Well written and well constructed, this is an enjoyable, funny, often
poignant book, and one that will resonate with many New Zealanders.'

Oxford Times (5 June 2008)

Collapsing idyll, by Maggie Hartford
"Books about cosmopolitan urbanites discovering the joys of country life are two a penny, but this one is worth a second glance. Walthew's vivid description of the moral stress induced by his job as a high-flying executive with the International Herald Tribune newspaper is worth the cover price alone. The story of finding the dream cottage, the impulse buy, and the last-minute panic are standard for this genre, but Walthew has some more interesting things to say. His outgoing personality - and perhaps his cosmopolitan background, and his Australian wife - allowed him to integrate into village life but keep an outsider's point of view. He gradually realised that the villagers were far from the united community of townies' dreams, and that economics was forcing drastic changes on traditional rural life. Highly recommended."

The Obsesrver, Non-Fiction, Inside Out (25 May 2008)

"'Stressed city couple seeks slower life in Cotswolds idyll'. The premise is so familiar there's even a predictably technical term for it: 'downshifting'. Yet it's hard to think in those terms about A Place in My Country, given the care with which Ian Walthew has skirted all the sprung traps of nostalgia and sentiment. A thoughtful observer and magpie-ish collector of oral history, Walthew has a sharp sense of the absurdities and the assets of his native land, reinforced by years living overseas. In his country life, escaped cows and the hunt ball jostle for space with barn raves and hawkish property developers. Avoiding the usual bland elegy for the rustic and redemptive, his book is a valuable memoir, both personal and social, a meditation on belonging in one of many Englands."

Tim Butcher, author of Blood River (Richard & Judy Galaxy Book of the Year 2008, 3rd place winner) (May 2008)

" I have been reading about the British countryside all my life but this is the first post-modern take on a national asset so routinely taken for granted. Author Ian Walthew takes a 12-inch plough to the cozy, complacency that so many apply to the subject and reveals that 21st century rural life is not a place for the genteel - in a corner of Gloucestershire most commonly viewed by outsiders from their 4x4s as they hurry to overpriced weekend retreats, he finds a farming heartbeat that is proud and defiant, defended by a cast of characters that outshine The Archers. A revelation of a book."

Sunday Times, Culture Section (11 May 2008)

"As a media executive, the author spent 10 years living abroad in Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris. His view of Britain was that it was "broken" and a place to which he never wanted to return, but a near-breakdown led him to resign from his job and move to the Wiltshire countryside. Initially at least, the spirit presiding over this memoir is that of Laurie Lee - Walthew yearns for the endless summer days depicted in Cider with Rosie - but he is soon brought up against the reality of modern-day farming, as his taciturn neighbour, Norman, struggles to survive. Far from being an idealistic paean to the English countryside, the book becomes a hard-edged and moving account of life in rural Britain today." IC

Daily Telegraph, Weekend - County (27 April, 2008)

Max Davidson interviewed Ian and reviewed the book for the Daily Telegraph. His piece was titled:
Elegy for a fading England
Max Davidson finds a poignant portrait of country life in the memoirs of a jet-setter with a rural dream
"Walthew now lives in the Auvergne in France with his family, but his memories of rural Gloucestershire, distilled in A Place in My Country, ring poignantly true."
"The book could have been a rollicking, laugh-a-minute riff on ignorant townies having to ask what exactly a heifer is. There are certainly some fine comic episodes, such as when Walthew tries his hand at pheasant-shooting, but it quickly turns into something more sombre - and more interesting."
" His beautifully written book is an elegy for an England that is dying, or at least in terminal decline."
To read the full article, click here

BBC Countryfile Magazine (November, 2007)

"Unlike many escape to the country books this is a revealing and sometimes painful account of life in 21st century English countryside. Walthew discovers how class and wealth splinter rural communities but also finds personal contentment, if not a perfect idyll. It is beautifully written and very moving. This is a great book, if you like to have your misconceptions about our land thoroughly challenged."

Oxford Times (18 October, 2007)
Chris Gray wrote an article titled: Gripping Study of the Real Rural Life. He wrote: "Let me then do what I can to encourage sales of this beautifully written book - its author's first - which has something to amuse or enlighten on almost every page."

To read the full article, click here

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ( 31 October, 2007)

"When stressed out media exec Ian Walthew panic buys a Cotswold Cottage as an escape route from the urban treadmill, he also unwittingly acquires a window on a corner of rural Britain at work and at play, and his writer’s eye sees just what’s going on. Walthew has a genuine gift for bringing both people and places to life and marshals his runaway real life narratives with a novelist’s skill. The story of his surprising friendship with his neighbour Norman - who is trying to keep his ramshackle farm and his dignity together with a few strands of bailer twine, while his millionaire neighbours embrace the prairie concept of modern industrial farming - is compelling and often deeply moving. And Walthew’s own struggle with age-old issues of identity, friendship, community and a place to call home are fresh, sympathetic and never trying. It’s not the sort of book you’d pick up expecting a page-turner, but that’s exactly what it turns out to be. It even has a proper ending."

NFU's Countryside Magazine (September, 2007)

Each month, Lesley Bayley, the editor of Countryside, checks out the latest books on shooting, equine behaviour and rural lives. She reviewed A Place in My Country in the September 2007 edition.

"There are countless books," she wrote, "recounting the stories of high-flying executives who become stressed out, turn their backs on lucrative careers and move the country to pursue their rural dream."

"So why is this one different?" she asks?

"As always there are the struggles to make inroads into a close-knit community, the seemingly huge initial differences between the city people and the locals, yet this book offers more."

A Place in My Country "draws you in so that you really start to care not only about Ian and his family but the other people in the community as well - the taciturn farmer struggling to make a living from his small acreage, the ex-gamekeeper who has a deep knowledge and love of the countryside, the locals facing challenges of little or poorly-paid work, expensive houses, the impact of second home owners, rural crime and so on."

"The book is a fascinating snapshot. All of life is here - birth, death, struggles with illness, hard work, lots of laughter."

According to Lesley, A Place in My Country "will make you smile gently to yourself, laugh out loud, shed a quiet tear and feel angry about the changes happening in our countryside."

The Mail on Sunday (5 August, 2007)

A Place in My Country was listed in as one of "The Top Ten Holiday Reads You Must Own."

"On the verge of a nervous breakdown, former marketing boss Walthew bought a place in the country to live out his ‘rural dream.’ Naturally, it wasn’t quite as simple as that……"

The Sunday Telegraph (22 July, 2007)

Clover Stroud, in The Sunday Telegraph, describes A Place in My Country as funny, touching and ultimately very moving, writing that the book is 'a beautiful, unsentimental account of a personal loss that is reflected in the rapidly changing texture of life in rural England'.

To read the review in full, click here.

The Shooting Times (19 July, 2007)

“A tale of moving to the country that even those who actually live and work there might enjoy…”

Country Life (19 July, 2007)

Leslie Geddes-Brown's review regards the book as a detailed portrait of a Cotswold village ('even it is one sided' in being 'less kind to the rich folk').

The author 'reveals how disastrous life is for the poorly paid in picture post-postcard villages'.

Despite her reservations about the book 'unfairly repeating unsubstantiated rumours of behaviour' of the rich folk to their employees, she writes that A Place in My Country is, nonetheless, 'a riveting read' and in the story of a poisoned garden 'a warning to newcomers about the dangers of upsetting village hierarchies and sensibilities'.

To read the review in full, back copies of Country Life VOL CCI No 29, JULY 19, 2007 are available at £6 a copy (£8 in the EU; £10 overseas) at http://www.mags-uk.com/ipc or by telephoning (++ 44) (0)1733 385170

The Financial Times (14 July, 2007)

A review by Melissa Katsoulis in the FT's Weekend Magazine describes A Place in My Country as 'an affecting and inspiring memoir'.

What sets the book apart from 'others of its ilk' (what is known in the publishing industry as 'settlement non-fiction' - escape the city etc) is the author's 'enviable immunity to cliché and his determination to love his homeland better than he used to'.

Katsoulis writes that this 'elegiac account of relearning how to be an Englishman should be required reading for anyone who claims to know or love this country'.

To read the review in full, click here.

The Bookbag.co.uk (July, 2007)

Writing on www.thebookbag.co.uk, a site that has quickly become a major reference point for the book industry and readers, Sue Magee gives A Place in My Country 4.5 stars out of 5, 'highly recommending' the book and describing it as one of the most rewarding books that she has read in quite a while.

Magee writes that it was several days since she finished reading the book before she felt able to write about it, because she was so moved by it.

When she started A Place in My Country Magee 'did wonder if it was going to be an English version of Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence – an amusing and entertaining read but ultimately rather superficial. I couldn't have been further from the truth'.

For Magee A Place in My Country 'isn't just the story of two people wanting an escape from the city; it's an examination of the state of the British countryside and a careful consideration of whether or not the way of life is sustainable. At times the writing had me close to tears'.

To read the review in full, click here.