My recent Roots and All podcast conversation with nature writer Nic Wilson was a real eye-opener. Her memoir Land Beneath the Waves isn’t another simple “walk in the woods fixed everything” story – it’s far more nuanced and honest than that.
From Classroom to Country Diary (Life’s Unexpected Turns)
Nic’s path from English teacher to Guardian country diarist shows how our careers can surprise us. After twelve years teaching in Durham and Cambridge, motherhood led her to an evening garden design course. What started as personal interest became a full writing career.
Her transition into nature writing happened organically – through blog posts about her children in the garden, wildlife observations, and eventually landing one of only thirty country diary positions across the UK. Sometimes the work finds us when we’re ready for it.
Living with Chronic Illness (The Reality Behind the Writing)
Here’s where Nic’s honesty really struck me. She lives with coeliac disease, adenomyosis, and chronic fatigue – conditions that don’t conveniently disappear when you step outside. For years, she maintained what she calls “two people” – the energetic outdoor person and the chronically ill woman who needed rest.
“I wanted to be proud of who I was in bed or out of it,” she told me. That integration, that self-acceptance, forms the heart of her memoir. It’s refreshingly real in a world full of wellness platitudes.
Accessible Nature Connection (Beyond the Hiking Boots)
What impressed me most were Nic’s practical suggestions for connecting with nature when energy or mobility is limited:
- Using the Merlin bird app to identify songs through open windows
- Growing food as both medicine and empowerment (especially meaningful after her coeliac diagnosis)
- Reading nature writing for those vicarious outdoor experiences
- Noticing urban wildlife and pavement plants on our doorsteps
The Reciprocal Relationship
Nic frames her relationship with nature as genuinely reciprocal – not just taking comfort from the natural world, but giving back through conservation work, peat-free gardening campaigns, and wildlife trust volunteering. It’s about love in the truest sense: supporting what supports you.
Listen to the full conversation – it’s genuinely illuminating.
