The book is released as part of the A Year In The Country project which began in 2014 and that at its core is an exploration of the wyrd, eerie and re-enchanted landscape, folk horror, the further reaches of folk music and culture and the spectral parallel worlds of hauntology.

The project was founded and is run by Stephen Prince and by mid-2025 as part of it 10 books and 30+ albums had been released and there had been over 1400 blog, artwork etc posts on the website.

The A Year In The Country non-fiction books and written posts on the website, all of which have been written by Stephen Prince, are intended to draw together and connect layered and, at times, semi-hidden cultural pathways and signposts: from explorations of the above mentioned eerie landscape via Brutalist architecture, acid and underground folk, electronic music pioneers, older British public information films, folkloric film and photography, folk horror in its various forms, contemporary hauntological-esque music releases and hazily misremembered televisual tales and transmissions and an accompanying strand of later 1960s through to early 1980s young adult orientated British television series such as The Owl Service, The Changes and Children of the Stones which had surprisingly complex and/or dark themes.

The roots of the project's inspiration can be found in part amongst its founder's childhood which at times was spent in the shadow of the Cold War, alongside him discovering and becoming intrigued by the fringes of science fiction and related dystopian tales at a young age, while also living amongst and next to the British countryside, overlooked edgelands and abandoned and contemporary defence infrastructure and equipment. This mixture of a pastoral playground, a world on the edge and fantastic fictions proved to be a heady mix for the dreamscapes of a young mind, all of which would be some of the initial seedlings that would lead one day to the creation and ongoing themes of A Year In The Country.

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“A Year In The Country make excellent music and excellent books about all things dark rural, folk horror, liminal England and hauntology.” Stuart Maconie, Freak Zone, BBC Radio 6

"Fans of acid-folk, hauntology and folk horror should already know the works of Stephen Prince, a multimedia artist who's been building his own otherworldly visions of Arcadian England under the name A Year In The Country. Both an exploration of a pastoral past and a rumination on a dystopian present, his recordings marry spectral folk to an electronic otherworld, whilst he has written books of non-fiction that investigate the inner-psyche of our collective histories." Thomas Patterson, Shindig!

“A Year In The Country epitomises the confluence of interest and dark synergy between nature, myth, occultism and ghost traces of hauntological memory.” Rob Young, The Magic Box

“Stephen Prince’s impressively comprehensive multi-media project A Year In The Country has explored and documented some of the lesser-trodden pathways between pastoral folk music and Radiophonic electronica, as well as actively contributing to these genres with a succession of hugely enjoyable musical releases.” Bob Fischer, Fortean Times’ The Haunted Generation columnist writing on his website and in Electronic Sound

“A Year In The Country is steadily building up a body of work that presents an alternative view of rural Britain and the project’s output is consistently fascinating.” Psychogeographic Review

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In 2018 the book A Year In The Country: Wandering Through Spectral Fields was released, which revisited writing from the project, alongside new wanderings:

“A new book caught my eye recently – the title A Year In The Country: Wandering Through Spectral Fields, that goes in search of the darker, eerier side of the bucolic countryside dream by looking at films of a certain genre, books, TV series, music; it is great to have this fascinating subject explored so thoroughly and brought together under one title.” Verity Sharp, Late Junction, BBC Radio 3

"An essential field guide to a distinct aesthetic that remains loosely defined, like a fluttering night moth that would die if pinned down." Ben Graham, Shindig!

"The first book of it's kind to catalogue all these disparate strands, many of which cross over time and space to influence one another." DJ Food

“Stephen Prince's densely packed tome covers everything from folkloric film and literature to electronic music to acid folk to folk horror to the dystopian fiction of John Wyndham and the classic unearthings of Nigel Kneale to the formation of under-the-furrows record labels like Trunk, Ghost Box and Finders Keepers… This incredibly well-researched book, which is obviously written by a man with an enormous passion for this subject, is probably as comprehensive as it is possible to be… Books this culturally valuable don't grow on hedgerows, so make sure you harvest it immediately." Ian White, Starburst

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In 2020 The Corn Mother novella was released, which explored the world, stories and dreamscapes of an imaginary near-mythical film:

“A fascinating and truly inventive novella… This is an original and significant piece of work, not only in its novel, singular and successful approach to folk horror and ‘imaginary’ films but in the creation of its own self referencing folklore.” Grey Malkin, Folk Horror Revival

“A gripping read, and cleverly told, with pop culture references and current affairs of the time seamlessly interwoven with the fictional story.” Kim Harten, Bliss Aquamarine

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In 2024 the book A Year In The Country: Wyrd Explorations was released which gathered together revised writing from the first ten years of A Year In The Country:

“The list of subject matter on offer in A Year In The Country: Wyrd Explorations is truly mindblowing taking in books, art, film, television, musicians, record labels and more – there is absolutely something for everyone. The Wicker Man, John Carpenter’s Prince Of Darkness, White Reindeer, Children Of The Stones, The Owl Service, Ghost Box Records, Quatermass, Vashti Bunyan, Broadcast, Boards Of Canada, Burial in amongst lesser-known gems including Raven, Howlround and Oss Oss Wee Oss. And this is just scratching the surface as Prince treats us to 52 chapters of his spectral wanderings, merging themes and topics deftly and often unexpectedly. This is a wonderful tome and a wonderful testament to a wonderful project.” Sarah Gregory, Shindig!

“A mighty slab of a book, 52 chapters across 551 pages, in which Stephen covers an awful lot of ground with his writings on film and TV, directors, writers, books, musicians, record labels and so on… It’s great to see Stephen's thoughts laid out like this and the diversity of subjects is dizzying. He veers from Bagpuss to Jane Weaver, Andy Votel and Dean Honer’s The Eccentronic Research Council to John Carpenter, Excalibur, Paul Nash, Quatermass, Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz Delia Derbyshire, Caroline Katz and Cosey Fanni Tutti and so much more… If you know all about Stephen and his fine work you won’t be hesitating to pick up a copy of this mighty tome.” Neil Mason, Moonbuilding

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The albums which have been released as part of A Year In The Country have included work by amongst others Sproatly Smith, Time Attendant, Lutine, Polypores, Howlround, The Rowan Amber Mill, The Hare And The Moon, Polypores, Listening Center, Lutine, Pulselovers, The Heartwood Institute, Keith Seatman and Magpahi, alongside work by A Year In The Country.

They have been written about and featured in the likes of the magazines Electronic Sound, Wire, The Guardian, Starburst and Shindig! and been broadcast on numerous radio shows including Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone on BBC Radio 6 and Late Junction on BBC Radio 3.

Press quotes on the A Year In The Country and the project's album releases:

"A Year In The Country quietly go about their business releasing beautifully packaged music that is influenced by folk, electronica, drone as well as by landscape, time and place... each have themes running through them, tying the music together and seemingly telling a story as they unfold." Terrascope

"Audio Albion is the latest brilliant release in an ongoing project to map landscape and memory through eerie instrumentals and twisted takes on folk culture." Jude Rogers, The Guardian

“The Restless Field is another exquisitely packaged affair… murky and ominous as befits the guiding thematic: places that are spectrally imprinted with past conflicts and struggles… a conceptual compilation of excellently eerie electronic music.” Simon Reynolds, author of Retromanina and Energy Flash

"Part feverish dream, part incidental music for a folk-horror movie... another excellent snapshot of current experimental music, showing the coexistence of darkness, strangeness and profound beauty." Bliss Aquamarine

“The Watchers is full of the trademark otherworldly pastoralism we’ve come to love from A Year In The Country releases… Found sounds and electronic discovery from out in the wild... A wonderfully curated concept album that rips up the green grass of the idyllic countryside and forces you to consider the darker undergrowth. Beautifully unnerving stuff.” Electronic Sound

"The Quietened Village is a beautifully packaged collection of Midwich Cuckoo ghost-folk." Mojo

“Airwaves: Songs From The Sentinels contains spectral sound for wandering the moors while radio waves permeate the fog-cloaked air… interference, plain piano song, shimmering electronics, remote listening and shadowy melodies make for an elegant and sinister experience.” Include Me Out