wild ruins

Wild Ruins reached the Amazon Top Ten Sales Rank during it’s first month of publication. It has gone on to sell over 25,000 Copies since it’s release.

With a Foreword by Tony Robinson, the book charts some of Britain’s most romantic ruined buildings. It has easy to follow directions, concise descriptions and excellent photography throughout.

Here’s an extract from a piece I wrote for BBC History online which I feel best describes the book

“If history is written by the victors, as Winston Churchill allegedly said, then what of the losers; how is their tale told? Our nation’s ruins offer this alternative history. Ruins tell the story of a constantly shifting balance of power. They tell us how even mighty armies and steadfast institutions can topple in the shifting sands of time. Ruins tell us of the forces, often way beyond our control, that continue to shape our lives to this day. The history of the ruin is, after all, the history written by the losing side.”

Hello! I am Dave Hamilton, a writer and tutor living in the South West of England with my partner and two young sons. I have sold over 70,000 books worldwide and have been translated into five different languages.

The themes of the outdoors and food run through both my written work and the subjects I tutor. I run foraging and gardening classes for adults and children (see list of current courses here). I am also available for hire for classes, talks and workshops.

‘Wild Ruins BC‘ (Left) (Wild Things Publishing) I toured Britain for three years from the Isle of Wight and Cornwall up to the Hebrides and Orkney in search of the relics of ancient Britain (more about the book here).

This followed on from my first travel book ‘Wild Ruins‘ (Right) released in 2015 which reached number 10 in the Amazon Charts.

Family Foraging (White Lion/Quarto Press) is the culmination of years of study. It explains how to identify and cook 30 of the most common wild foods you might find in the Northern Hemisphere. Although aimed at children it is suitable for adults looking for an introduction into foraging.

English language versions of the book are available in the UK, USA and Canada with books also translated into French, Dutch, Danish and Hungarian.

My writing career began with the book the Self-Sufficienish Bible (Hodder and Stoughton-2008) which I co-wrote with my identical twin brother Andy Hamilton. This followed my experiments in self-sufficiency whilst living and studying in Oxford. By the year 2003 all the fruit and vegetables which came into my house were from foraging or those which I had grown myself. Again in the book I focused on the outdoor aspects covering the subjects of Wild Food, Fruit and Vegetable Gardening and Seasonal Food whilst my brother, a keen meat eater and drinker wrote about livestock, brewing and herbs. Subjects he still pursues.

Whilst living in Totnes and teaching sustainable horticulture at Schumacher College I wrote my second book Grow Your Food For Free. Published by Green Books in 2011, the book led to a column in BBC Gardener’s World Magazine and won and award for the best practical gardening book of the year.

Tag: wild ruins

About Dave Hamilton – OLD