Overview

Gavin Plumley considered himself a distinctly urban being...until he met his rural husband, Alastair. Together, they bought Stepps House - a three-storey building in Pembridge, Herefordshire - on love at first sight. But then came the inevitable question from an insurance salesman: 'How old is it?' With ancient beams crossing the ceiling, the date they'd been given of 1800 seemed out by centuries. As Gavin traced Stepps House through various hands and eras, he saw the picture of a past emerge that resonates powerfully with our present. A hybrid work of domestic history and European art, of memoir and landscape, A Home for All Seasons is both grand in its sweep and intimate in its account of life on the edge of England.

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9781838954802

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What starts out as a straightforward house history morphs into something else, a wide-ranging meditation on place and past, taking in climate change, rural depopulation, the Reformation and folklore...A gentle, reflective book. Plumley is at his best when describing the things he loves: his husband, his new home, its history. * Literary Review * A richly textured book, replete with illuminating discoveries and observations. * Country Life *

What starts out as a straightforward house history morphs into something else, a wide-ranging meditation on place and past, taking in climate change, rural depopulation, the Reformation and folklore...A gentle, reflective book. Plumley is at his best when describing the things he loves: his husband, his new home, its history. * Literary Review * A richly textured book, replete with illuminating discoveries and observations. * Country Life * A moving, memorable book about how we make our lives inside architecture, and how we are changed in turn by the places we call home. With passion and precision, Gavin Plumley pushes the boundaries of memoir and scholarship and shows that the chronicle of a house can contain the grand history of a whole world as well as the sweet, urgent story of a life: all that intimacy within the vastness of historical time. -- Richie Hoffman, Author of A Hundred Lovers A tender and illuminating history of an overlooked world. -- Horatio Clare Truly a revelation on every page. -- Petroc Trelawny

Author Information

Gavin Plumley is a cultural historian. He appears frequently on BBC radio, has written for newspapers and magazines worldwide and gives talks at leading museums and galleries. He grew up in Wales, before moving to London, and studied music at Keble College, Oxford. He lives in Herefordshire.

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