The Keen Countryman's Miscellany by Peter Holt

The Keen Countryman's Miscellany provides a selection entries about everything that the true countryman - or woman - would like to know. Here you will find all things rural, from profiles of great farmers through history such as Thomas Coke and King George III, to  snippets about wood-burning stoves, vermin control, hedge-laying and wild cat sightings.

Readers with a schoolboy mentality will enjoy pieces on blowing up wasps nests, how to get fish drunk and rules for conducting a proper snowball fight. Fishermen will find items on subjects such as why women catch the biggest salmon, while for the more socially-minded there is a list of typical country dinner party conversation topics, such as who's bonking whom in the local hunt and the extortionate price of central hearing oil.

Other gems include advice on how to trap magpies with a dead cat, instructions on how to make a hazel walking-stick, a catalogue of racing trainers' excuses and an inventory of wines that no self-respecting country house cellar should be without. There's even an entry devoted to the quaint outdoor sexual practice known as 'dogging'. Packed with a gloriously random selection of rustic ephemera, this beautifully produced little volume is the perfect gift for the countryman with an enquiring mind and a sense of humour.

The latest in Peter Holt's best-selling 'Keen ' series, this is the perfect pick-up, put-down miscellany that should find its way into the smallest of rooms in the grandest of houses.