Book Review: In Search of Nomads
John Ure, the most entertaining and prolific of diplomatic travel writers, has produced about eccentric British travellers from Hester Stanhope to Bruce Chatwin.

John Ure In Search of Nomads: An English Obsession from Hester Stanhope to Bruce Chatwin
John Ure, the most entertaining and prolific of diplomatic travel writers, has produced a polished successor to his Trespassers on the Amazon. He clearly relishes the stories he tells about eccentric British travellers and he is a past-master at finding anecdotes to illustrate their peculiar lives and obsessions.
This time, he turns his acute and eclectic eye on the nomads of four regions: Persia, Arabia, Central Asia and the Sahara. The focus swings from the people themselves to the men and women who found the nomadic way of life irresistible and chose to travel with them-those suffering from what the author calls 'the Anglo-Saxon preoccupation with the search for nomads'.
The stories are put in context and the whole subject observed through the eyes of a distinguished diplomat, who has himself had to deal in his time with many of the tiresome and eccentric travellers who can make the life of Her Majesty's representatives so difficult.
They are also enlivened by his own first-hand descriptions of travels and adventures in the same places and with the descendants of the same nomads. Many are also extremely funny.
I particularly enjoyed the description of the formidable Miss Bulstrode flagrantly smuggling her personal arsenal of fire-arms across the Russian-Chinese border just before the Russian Revolution. There are sensible maps and an index, two essentials which are all too often omitted, and some evocative photographs.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
From California to Cornwall: How surfing became a cornerstone of Cornish culture
A new exhibition at Cornwall's National Maritime Museum celebrates a century of surf culture and reveals how the country became a global leader in surf innovation and conservation.
By Emma Lavelle Published
-
18 magnificent homes for sale from £550k to £20 million, as seen in Country Life
From a charming thatched cottage to a 300-acre estate with its own vineyard, here's our pick of places to come to the market via Country Life of late.
By Toby Keel Published