J C Jeremy Hobson FRSA

Born in 1956 to a family that kept or were involved with chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, goats and horses and indulged in all manner of country pursuits, it is perhaps not at all surprising that Jeremy took the lifestyle route he did. It was, though, the encouragement of both a rural studies teacher and an English master that made Jeremy determined to pursue a career which encapsulated all his and his family’s interests and hobbies.

Initially educated in West Yorkshire, Jeremy graduated with a distinction in Game and Sporting Management from the Hampshire College of Agriculture before moving to the grouse moors of North Yorkshire until given the opportunity to single-handedly manage a Surrey pheasant shoot – from where he was head-hunted and subsequently employed on a West Sussex estate for 20 years. While no longer directly involved with keepering, Jeremy's services are still in demand on a prestigious southern sporting estate where he hosts several shooting days throughout the season.

Since 2002, when he moved to France, Jeremy has earned his living as a professional freelance author, writer and journalist - and continues to do so from rural Hampshire, where he very quickly put down deep roots after returning from France in the summer of 2016.    

His interest in writing has always been with him and his first published piece was a prize-winning letter to Woman magazine whilst still at school! His first rural-orientated article was published in 1976 and his first book followed a decade later. In the intervening time, Jeremy has written innumerable magazine and newspaper articles, and well over 30 book titles (all of which can be seen on the 'List of Works' page).

In the late 1980s/early 1990s, he had a brief flirtation with the radio and television media and, amongst other things, contributed to BBC2’s Tracks programme, ITV’s Country Ways and Radio 4’s The Countryside in… series. In addition, he was responsible for a 'one-off' series of short programmes entitled All In A Day’s Rest where he talked with well-known personalities about their outdoor interests and passions.

 

Lifestyle and interests

Surrounded by birds and animals from an early age, Jeremy tended to take the occupants of his environment for granted until he was given a trio of White Wyandotte bantams, from which stock he developed a prize-winning strain of birds which he showed regularly at local and county level. Since then, he has kept many breeds of poultry.

A 30 year plus career in estate/shoot management has resulted in both a hands-on and advisory approach – and an excellent opportunity to study the countryside’s flora and fauna on a day-to-day basis.

Hounds and hunting have always been a passion: he whipped in to the Colne Valley beagles as a teenager and, in later life, kept a horse so as to be able to hunt with Mr Goshen’s hounds and the Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray hunt in West Sussex. Nowadays, Jeremy and his wife Melinda regularly follow the South Downs Bloodhounds on foot.

Jeremy’s interests also include trout-fishing but there is, by his own admission, not much finesse to his style.

Like all those who are at one with the countryside, Jeremy knows how to produce, grow and cook what’s on offer (as evidenced by his recipe books – all of which have a truly rural flavour); identify the tracks of what’s walked the path ahead and craft a stick from the hedgerow. Jeremy's years of living in rural France have also given him the chance to experience all that country life there has to offer.