A Times BestsellerShortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing 2020’Remarkable, and so profoundly enjoyable to read … Its importance is huge, setting down a vital marker in the 21st century debate about how we use and abuse the land’ – Joyce McMillan, ScotsmanDesperate to connect with his native Galloway, Patrick Laurie plunges into work on his family farm in the hills of southwest Scotland. Investing in the oldest and most traditional breeds of Galloway cattle, the Riggit Galloway, he begins to discover how cows once shaped people, places and nature in this remote and half-hidden place. This traditional breed requires different methods of care from modern farming on an industrial, totally unnatural scale. As the cattle begin to dictate the pattern of his life, Patrick stumbles upon the passing of an ancient rural heritage. Always one of the most isolated and insular parts of the country, as the twentieth century progressed, the peop