Farm from Nash, who had bought the Elizabethan yeoman's house in 1944. He later published a book, First Friends (1999), based on a trunk of letters he found in the house that recorded the friendship between the Nash brothers, John's future wife, Christine Külenthal, and the artist Dora Carrington. His life at Bottengoms and the landscape around his home became the subject of Blythe's long-running column, "Word from Wormingford", in the Church Times from 1993 to 2017. These meditative reflections on literature, history, the Church of England and the natural world were subsequently collected together in books including A Parish Year (1998) and A Year at Bottengoms Farm (2006). A compilation of his work, Aftermath: Selected Writings 1960–2010, appeared in 2010. Later life and death Blythe never married. He continued to live and work at Bottengoms Farm in Wormingford until his death, following the opinion expressed in The View in Winter that the elderly should remain in their own homes whenever possible. He never learned to drive and did not use a computer. He turned 100 on 6 November 2022 and died at his home just over two months later, on 14 January 2023. Other positions Blythe was a lay reader in the Church of England and a lay canon at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature from 1970 and was president of the John Clare Society from its foundation. His book, At Helpston, is a series of essays on the poet John Clare. Recognition Awards In 2006 Blythe was awarded a Benson Medal for lifelong achievement by the Royal Society of Literature, and in 2015 he received an honorary degree from the University of Suffolk. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to literature. Portraits The National Portrait Gallery has two portraits of Blythe, a 2005 C-type print by Mark Gerson and a 1990 bromide print by Lucinda Douglas-Menzies. A 2014 terracotta head by Jon Edgar is featured in his 2015 collection of poems Decadal. Bibliography Blythe's works as an author and an editor include the following: Works as author A Treasonable Growth (MacGibbon & Kee, 1960) - fiction Immediate Possession and other stories (MacGibbon & Kee, 1961) - fiction The Age of Illusion: England in the Twenties and Thirties, 1919-1940 (Hamish Hamilton, 1963) - republished