Jim has recently completed a commission which saw him travel the UK photographing people and their meadows.
Shortlisted for the Garden Media Guild Awards Garden Book of the Year 2022.
From the Kew publishing listing: The surviving hay meadows of the British Isles are an intrinsic part of our cultural heritage, representing a natural equivalent to our great churches, castles, and ancient standing stones. Those that remain provide a tantalising glimpse into the past to a time long before chemical fertilisers and herbicides robbed our grasslands of all their treasures; they are biodiversity hotspots, offering home and sanctuary to flora and fauna.
In this book, Iain Parkinson has carefully curated a fascinating collection of personal and evocative accounts shared by notable meadow experts from the world of science, conservation and the arts. The complex story of a hay meadow is told by the people whose lives are entangled within its intricate web, and in Meadow we hear over 30 first-person accounts touching on everything from wildflower and grassland restoration, basketmaking and weaving, pollinators and birdlife, water and soil, to hedgelaying, grazing, and archaeology.
Beautifully illustrated with photographs specially taken by Jim Holden, Meadow is not only an insightful guide that helps to reveal the secret life of the flora and fauna of our classic hay meadows, but it also acts as a long-overdue celebration of the people behind these enigmatic grasslands.
Author: Iain Parkinson. With
photographs by Jim Holden. 228pp. 270 colour photographs. 253 x 214 mm.
Hardback, ISBN 978 1 84246 747 3, Kew Publishing 2022
With a foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales
Order from the Kew.org shop [here] or direct from the studio using the add to cart button below.