Q & A’s

Why did you choose to set the story in North Devon?

The obvious answer is because I live here and because I’ve got to know the people who live and work here, and I love the countryside all around. And I really do think it’s a rare place; it has special and unique qualities.

Devon is a large county with very different coastlines to the North and South, but I’m not really talking about the tourist destinations, spectacular though they are. I’m interested in the interior, down the deep and inaccessible lanes where few visitors venture. These are poor and impoverished places, but with such heart. The real Devon. This is where the old churches, mellow cob farmhouses, huddled villages and ancient trackways are hidden away, like they’ve always been.

In the book, you speculate on the pre-history of the region. How significant is this to the story?

I think it’s what makes it so different here. You have to appreciate how the area has evolved over the last few thousand years to understand how it’s like it is today. The quality of agricultural land is poor, suited only to low-impact pastoral farming. The Culm Measures have always been wet, heavy land, poorly drained and hard going. There would never have been many takers for this unpromising landscape and those who ended up here would lead insular, isolated lives. They would have been inbred and a little odd, I suppose. It isn’t on the way to anywhere. Apart from drovers, there would be little movement or migration. The Romans weren’t much interested, and neither were the Danes or the Vikings, and you can understand why. It would have been a breeding ground for mysticism and the occult and when the first Christian missionaries rocked up from Ireland, I would imagine they had their work cut out.

How have things changed, and what further changes are to come?

The countryside has always been in a state of flux, but I think it’s now facing critical changes, some of which may be irreversible. The biggest reshaping of agriculture has been a movement, post war, from mixed farming to specialism and now also to diversification. Unlike in some parts of the country, most farms around here are still family run with healthy succession – you see a lot of young farmers, which is wonderful. But modern farm machinery is designed to be used by one operator and many farms now have only one full time worker. It can be a lonely place, and will only get more depopulated with autonomous tractors being the next development.

How do you feel about the retreat of nature?

I think we’ve truly reached a watershed, and something positive and extensive has to be done or it will be too late. Not just talk; we’ve been doing that for fifty years. The most difficult conundrum is that intensification of agriculture is a global issue, but I believe we should act unilaterally in this country to mitigate further loss of habitat and species. We have that opportunity. We need to just go for it and hope that the rest follow our lead. It is clearly a hugely complex issue, and like it or not, embraces many stakeholders. Everybody wants something different and while we squabble, we continue to lose what is most fundamental to our very existence.

What’s the message of the book?

It does have many messages; it’s quite a complex book. The one I would like readers to take away with them is that we need to appreciate how fragile the legacy of billions of years of evolution has become under our brief stewardship. When it’s gone, it really will be gone.

What other messages?

There are many references in the book to power and control over poor people and the historical role of the Church in this regard. A more esoteric message is that there may plausibly be an afterlife that has nothing at all to do with a divine creator. There’s something for everyone.

Who do you want to read Coat with long sleeves?

Anyone who is prepared to step back from the obvious and conventional and just think and wonder about what is and might be.