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New book celebrates Devon's wildlife

14th October 2020

Categories: Visitor News

A new book celebrating Devon's wildlife is out now at all good bookstores. Secrets of a Devon Wood (published by Short Books) is a stunning illustrated nature journal compiled by local artist and illustrator Jo Brown, who started keeping her nature diary in a bid to document the small wonders of the wood behind her home in Devon. The book is an exact replica of her original black Moleskin journal, a rich illustrated memory of Jo’s discoveries in the order in which she found them. Jo spoke to Visit Devon about the process of creating Secrets of a Devon Wood, she said:

"Although I have lived all over the UK, I was born and bred in South Devon, spending my youth in Teignmouth, and I returned to my roots 11 years ago. As such, it was inevitable that the surrounding countryside would make it into my journal, as I have alway been fascinated with the flora and fauna that is right under my nose.

"Everyday I walk around the woodland and fields surrounding my home, so it wasn’t a massive leap for me to start sketching my finds. As an artist, I had temporarily lost my mojo and interacting with nature like this sparked my interest again. One day I posted a video to my twitter and all of a sudden what had been a private project, became interesting to all kinds of people. It has been viewed over a million times now."

The video, which was posted at the end of last year, went viral and her followers jumped from 9K to 20K in just two days. She took BBC Inside Out South West for a wander in the woods, chatted to De’Graft Mensah about the Nature Journal for Newsround, and David FitzGerald interviewed her live on BBC Radio Devon. The book has also been featured in the Daily Mail.

Jo continued: "I am an introvert so I’m not really into pubs and nightlife, I prefer to keep myself to myself. In that way, this Coronavirus situation hasn’t really been that much different than before. I have my struggles with depression and anxiety however, so it has been really good to hear that my work has been giving people who are also struggling a lift. Nature is really the best medicine if you are dealing with a tough time."

"It has been a crazy journey from putting down the first sketches in my journal, all the way up to today, publishing day. I just got word from one of my favourite nature booksellers that I have set a new record in presales! It doesn’t seem real that my little slice of escapism has created such interest with a wider audience. I would like to just say thank you to everybody in the community who has got involved in this project, from the publishers to my agent, all the Instagram and Twitter followers, it’s been so much fun."

Secrets of a Devon Wood was published on 8th October by Short Books, priced at £14.99 hardback and is available in a range of bookstores, including Waterstones, find out more here: http://bit.ly/devonwoodbk