What is it that makes the ideal English village? Firle in East Sussex is

both unique and universal. First of all there is a pub and in no particular

order come a school, a shop, a cricket pitch, a church, a stream, a

blacksmith, allotments, flint walls, house martins. Above all, the village

seems to contain that rarest of ingredients, delight.

Firle sits literally at the end of the road. It is the last place you can

reach by car before coming in summer to a wandering line of chalk and in

winter to something a little muddier. Beyond the road are the wild

landscapes of the South Downs, sleeping and keeping the bones of those who

were first to arrive at the end of the last ice age. It is the connection

between village, people and these hills which makes it such a special place.

In a delightful photo essay, acclaimed photographer Eamonn J. McCabe

captures some of what makes this English village come alive. Big open skies,

small boys holding a colourful caterpillar, cabbages and tea cosies,

bonfires, bikers, dogs and wellies. This is a book for all those who cherish

English country life.