THE FOLIO SOCIETY

To the untrained eye, Lucking's Farm, the Folly Brook and Moss Mill look no different from any other stretch of countryside you'd care to name. But peer under the old oak tree and you'll find the home of the last four surviving gnomes in Britain. Baldmoney, Sneezewort, Dodder and Cloudberry live a contented life - their larder is full (acorn cakes and fried minnows), their store of wine ('Elderberry 1905, a good vintage') is maturing nicely and a few luxuries (nettle tobacco and moleskin sleeping-bags) leave them wanting for little. But Cloudberry needs an adventure and decides to find the source of the Folly Brook. When he doesn't return, the others set off to look for him, hardly imagining that the journey they begin in spring will not end until winter, and the experiences they have along the way will test their courage to the limits.

'BB' was the pseudonym of Denys Watkins-Pitchford, esteemed naturalist, children's writer and illustrator. In The Little Grey Men, his knowledge of the natural world and his gentle, inventive imagination came together in perfect synchronicity. With the addition of his own exquisite illustrations, the secret world of stream and woodland has never been more lovingly portrayed.