Robin Shelton – författare

Robin Shelton and his mate Steve were complete neophytes when they decided that having an allotment might save them a bit of money. But what had seemed like a good idea over a couple of beers seemed rather more daunting when faced with a weedy patch of ground. Still, both men were at a crisis point in their lives and the allotment represented their desire to achieve something concrete. They persevered and, despite the weather and confusing advice from their elderly allotment neighbours, managed to plant and grow a successful crop of vegetables.As he writes about their year in the allotment, Robin describes his own personal journey. When he takes the allotment on he is divorced, broke and suffering from depression. Working on the allotment brings back happy memories of his father, who died when Robin was sixteen, and also draws him closer to his own two sons. Gradually Robin finds stability and a sense of purpose in his life. His and Steve's tale is funny, moving and enlightening - a book for anyone who's ever bitten off more than they can chew, but muddled through anyway."Their struggle to plant their crops against the baffling advice of fellow allotment holders is funny and moving. Our heroes finish the year wiser, saner and with an impressive array of veg." Daily Express"A comforting antidote to the glossy perfection of gardening on the telly." Evening Standard

When Robin was a boy, fishing with his father was an integral and much-loved part of family holidays, but as an adult he fished infrequently, with terrible technique and rare success. Until one day, feeling inspired to supplement the vegetables from his allotment with nature's free bounty, fish, he tentatively decided to try again. Full of dizzy excitement at all the equipment available - the rods, the reels, the rigs, the lures, the tackle box complete with light in its lid, into which everything packed so beautifully - he embarked on his journey as a born-again angler.What follows is a funny, touching and even informative book about Britain's most popular sport. From beachcasting off the stormy Pembrokeshire coast to flyfishing for trout in tranquil Hertfordshire, Robin shares his experiences, his successes and failures, and even some of his favourite recipes. Along the way he discovers exactly why anglers feel so passionate about their chosen sport.