CALSTOCK: Calstock Arts

Thursday 16th February, 2023

7:00pm

Event information

Guy Shrubsole is a writer and environmental campaigner. He has worked for Rewilding Britain, Friends of the Earth, the UK Government's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and New Zealand's Ministry of Agriculture.

He has written widely for publications such as the Guardian and New Statesman. His first book Who Owns England? was an instant Sunday Times best seller. Calstock Arts are very pleased to welcome him to the Old Chapel to talk about his latest book, Lost Rain Forests of Britain, which Chris Packman describes as 'A treasure full of woodland jewels, rare, precious and beautiful'

In 2020, Guy moved from London to Devon. As he explored the wooded valleys, rivers and tors of Dartmoor, Guy discovered a spectacular habitat that he had never encountered before: temperate rainforest. Entranced, he spent the following months investigating the history, ecology and distribution of rainforests across England, Wales and Scotland. Britain, Guy discovered, was once a rainforest nation.

His book is the story of a unique habitat that has been so ravaged, most people today don't realise it exists. Temperate rainforest may once have covered up to one-fifth of Britain and played host to a dazzling variety of luminous life-forms, inspiring Celtic druids, Welsh wizards, Romantic poets, and Arthur Conan Doyle's most loved creations. Though only fragments now remain, they form a rare and internationally important habitat, home to lush ferns and beardy lichens, pine martens and pied flycatchers. But why are even environmentalists unaware of their existence? And how have we managed to so comprehensively excise them from our cultural memory?

There will be a question and answer session at the end of his talk.

Book Stop, an independent book shop in Tavistock, will be at the event selling books - which Guy will be happy to sign at the end of the evening.

For more info on Lost Rain Forests of Britain see https://lostrainforestsofbritain.org/

Venue information

CALSTOCK: Calstock Arts

0	Old Chapel Sand Lane Calstock PL18 9QX
>	calstockarts.org
!	01822 833183
`	Our venue provides good access and facilities for the disabled and there is parking close by. Please see our website contact page for details. COVID measures can be found at https;//calstockarts.org/covid-19/