Robert Somerville grew up in rural Kent during the 1960s. A
childhood spent in the woods and hills of the North Downs and the
orchards and marshes of the Little Stour valley inspired his deep
love for the natural world. After studying engineering and
architecture at the University of Cambridge, Somerville went on to
run a design and building business in Devon, utilizing local wood,
stone and earth.
Upon moving to Hertfordshire with his wife, Lydia, Somerville began
working with local woodland owners and foresters to source local
elm timber and then build and raise timber frames by hand, with the
help of volunteers known as the Barn Club – a group formed to
teach, practice and celebrate skilled rural craftsmanship.
Somerville lives with Lydia and the youngest of his three children
in their self-built eco-house in an idyllic smallholding.
Booklist– "The opening chapters read like a prose poem;
Somerville's love for nature and natural things is
infectious."
"A joyful reminder of why nature, being outside, being together and
creating beauty is so good for the soul."—Kate Humble, broadcaster
and author of A Year of Living Simply
"For the reader who wishes to resist the gathering pace of modern
life and take time to learn from the past, the tale of hand-raising
a barn the old-fashioned way brings nature, community and
craftsmanship together in an enduring and satisfying feeling of a
job well done."—Gillian Burke, co-presenter of BBC’s Springwatch,
writer and biologist
‘For all our advances, it’s hard to deny the modern world brings
with it new ills of disconnection and disenfranchisement, but here
in Barn Club they’ve found their cure. The emphasis on hand-tool
workmanship places value on what an individual can achieve without
the use of machines and smartphones; the size of the project
necessarily brings people to work together. A common goal that
requires purposeful physical work whilst being able to talk without
shouting over loud machinery or just being able to tune into the
flow of work and the soothing sounds of the rhythmic tools. Could
this book sow the seeds of community barns springing up all over
our fair land? A space for communal well-being, an opportunity for
everyone, not just the privileged, to connect with the nurturing
nature of trees and craft?’ —Barn the Spoon, master craftsman and
author of Spōn
"In today’s ego-techno-centred world, Robert Somerville’s tale of
elm trees, hand tools, timber framing and comradery is a welcome
relief. His “Barn Club” approach is a way forward that
utilises local traditions, local materials and local hands to
create a built environment that is more harmonious with the natural
world and of course more beautiful. Now, if every community
around the world had one of these Barn Clubs, how nice would that
be?"—Jack A. Sobon, architect, timber framer and author
of Hand Hewn
"Elm trees may have been devastated by Dutch elm disease but they
are still with us and should not be forgotten, as Robert Somerville
powerfully shows. Natural history, ancient crafts and a group of
twenty-first-century volunteers meet in this book to show us how
elms can reconnect us to nature, past cultures and one another. A
beautiful and timely book with a barnful of good ideas."—Professor
Richard Buggs, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
"Robert Somerville is to be congratulated for his understanding of
the entomology and pathology involved in Dutch elm disease, which
in addition to its devastation of British elms also resulted in the
loss of over 300 million American elms. His book should find a
ready readership among do-it-yourselfers, whose home improvement
projects have multiplied in this Covid environment."—John Hansel,
founder, Elm Research Institute
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