Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare's acts of extraordinary kindness...

Down Burrow Lane by Michael Morpurgo (Hodder £20, 288pp) Published: 06:49 EDT, 5 October 2026 | Updated: 06:49 EDT, 5 October 2026 With only a title and a few ideas in his head, Michael Morpurgo was struggling to find a voice for the narrator of his next book. One day, while wandering around his farm, he stumbled across a boy, Billy, chattering away to one of the horses.Billy was a ‘silent child’ – he never spoke. Yet, to the horse he spoke freely, and the horse ‘knew she was needed’ and listened. It was this meeting of ‘two sentient beings, both sensitive and intelligent’ that inspired the quiet but determined mind of Joey, Michael’s War Horse.While it is undoubtedly Michael’s best-known book – War Horse is a bestseller, a record-breaking National Theatre play and a Steven Spielberg film – its origins are rather more humble.Billy was one of the 100,000 children who have visited one of Michael and Clare Morpurgo’s Farms for City Children. In this deeply emotional memoir of sorts, Michael reflects upon his marriage, his friends, his writing and the immense good all have done for the world.Michael and his wife Clare began Farms for City Children in 1976. Its aim was to provide children from towns and cities with an opportunity to experience life in the countryside: milking cows, feeding pigs and collecting eggs.You might wonder how two people could achieve such a thing – the answer is with a lot of help. The Morpurgos found a large enough house, in a friendly enough village where locals were very happy to assist; a chance meeting with then poet laureate Ted Hughes connected the charity to the Royal Family (Princess Anne is now a patron); and the couple had access to Clare’s legacy from her father, Penguin Books founder Sir Allen Lane.At its heart, this book is a love letter to Michael’s wife. Clare’s determination in making every child’s stay uniquely memorable is deeply moving.The success of Farms for City Children cannot be overstated – they have changed thousands of lives for the better. Yet sometimes this retelling of a spectacular life reads as a little too good to be true.Whether through self-deprecation or embarrassment about privilege, Michael is wont to leave out the details of overcoming struggles. A solution is found almost before the reader has had a chance to realise the magnitude of the problem in need of solving. Perhaps it is the habit of a children’s writer for resolutions to neatly fall into place, but on this occasion it feels as though the reader is being given only half the story.Michael frets about money; a page later Clare has miraculously raised a seven-figure sum. They look at opening another farm; the head of the National Trust in Wales is in their local pub with a site in mind. This book shows how privilege and good fortune can enact change and leave the world a better place, so it is a shame to see that downplayed. But there is great pleasure to be had in reading the rose-tinted reflections of this old storyteller.