Fennel's Priory

Fennel's Priory is your opportunity to 'Stop – Unplug – Escape – Enjoy'. It's about outdoor adventure, nature, the countryside, rural traditions, country pursuits and, above all, about freedom.

As a publisher of countryside and angling books, we're here to celebrate an outdoors life. Often this is viewed through the lens of a countryman-angler, as Fennel's Priory was founded on and around the work of outdoorsman and countryside author Fennel Hudson. The name 'Fennel's Priory' was given to him by famous angling author and illustrator Bernard Venables in 1996, so there's a lot of similarity in Fennel's philosophies and that of his mentor.

Somewhere to find freedom

Fennel's books, blogs, podcast and videos centre on what he calls 'The Quiet Fields' – those quiet corners of the landscape where time moves slowly and nature exists undisturbed. Everything he does seeks to encourage nature connection and understanding of our place in the natural world. It's about wildlife and rural living, the discovery and definition of self, and championing what's important in life. 

Fennel Hudson author

This is how Fennel was described when, at the age of 11, he started a Saturday job as a gardener at a local country house. He wasn't a normal child of the 1980s. Dressed in a flat cap, breeks and tweed waistcoat, he knew his mind and was determined to spend as much time as possible in the countryside, cultivating the passions and talents that inspired him. By 13 he had published his first short story, by 15 he was editor of his school newspaper and secretary of his local angling club, and by 21 was working as a gardener on a large country estate. Inspired by the books of BB, encouraged as a writer by Chris Yates and Peter Wheat, as an angler by Mike Winter, and as an artist by Bernard Venables, his books are a fitting contribution to countryside, lifestyle, and traditional angling literature. Writing in 1995, Chris Yates said: "Fennel, who is 21, is one of the generations of younger anglers who gives me faith in the future".

Fennel's writing has appeared in a variety of publications such as Trout & Salmon, The Flyfishers' Journal, Classic Angling, Angling Times, Gardeners' World Magazine, Horticulture Week, and Farmers Guardian. He's lectured extensively about writing, and on subjects as diverse as adventure and free spirit, identity and self, bushcraft fly fishing, traditional angling, garden design, the natural world, and nature connection.

Today, Fennel is a full-time writer and broadcaster, immersed in Priory-related projects and enjoying the good life at his home in North Wales.

If you like the work of lifestyle and countryside author Fennel Hudson, then please subscribe to Fennel on Friday. You'll receive a blog, video or podcast sent direct to your email inbox in time for the weekend.