Synopses & Reviews
In 1885, San Antonio architect Alfred Giles began buying the land that would become Hillingdon Ranch, eventually accumulating 13,000 acres near the town of Comfort in Kendall County. As the property passed to succeeding generations, the holdings got smaller, and more family members shared a stake in the ranch. Today, dozens of Giles descendants own pieces of it, ranging in size from ten to several hundred acres.
Yet Hillingdon remains a working ranch, with day-to-day operations managed by Robin Giles, grandson of Alfred Giles; his wife, Carol; their son, Grant; and Grantandrsquo;s wife, Misty. The cattle, sheep, and goat business they built has become a model of stewardship and sustainability. While managing family relationships can often be as complicated as managing livestock and forage, the ranch would not exist without the commitment of the large extended family, now in its sixth generation on the ranch.
Hillingdon Ranch: Four Seasons, Six Generations chronicles how one family has worked together over many years to keep their ranch intact. It is also a beautifully photographed portrait of a ranching family and their life in the Texas Hill Country, where work is guided by the seasons, increasingly influenced by technology, and inevitably affected by drought.
In learning about the familyandrsquo;s successes and challenges, readers will gain a greater appreciation of what the Giles familyandrsquo;s efforts mean to the rest of us: food, fiber, clean air, wildlife, healthy land, peace and quiet, and, perhaps most important of all, clean and plentiful water.
Review
andldquo;In Texas, 94 percent of the land is privately owned, so the future of the Lone Star State depends on the care of individual land owners.
Hillingdon Ranch: Four Seasons, Six Generationsandnbsp;tells the story of how one family's passionate stewardship translates into environmental benefits for our entire state. The Giles family's commitment to conservation is a model for all Texans as we work together to protect ourandnbsp;state's clean air, clean water, wildlife habitats and magnificent natural landscapes.andrdquo;
andmdash;Mrs. Laura Bush, Former First Lady of Texas and the United States of AmericaReview
andquot;Hillingdon Ranch:andnbsp; Four Seasons, Six Generations tells a story that is important to all Texans.andnbsp; Within its pages, youandrsquo;ll discover how one familyandrsquo;s passionate stewardship of their land translates into environmental benefits for society as a whole.andnbsp; It is a story that plays out on ranch after ranch, and in family after family.andnbsp; While land stewards bear the direct responsibility, we can all work together to keep our legendary open spaces open and environmentally productive.andquot;--Nolan Ryan, Baseball Hall of Fame, rancher, and former Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioner
Review
"More than a history of a Texas ranch, Hillingdon Ranch: Four Seasons, Six Generations is an allegory of a family and the land, how their stewardship for more than 100 years has sustained Hillingdon and how that land has nurtured and shaped Alfred Giles's descendants. . . Hillingdon Ranch is a rallying cry for urban and rural Texans to understand their intertwined fortunes and combine their substantial talents and energies towards ' . . . policies that conserve the common good, while protecting the heritage of private landowners.'"--Texas Wildlife
Review
"A new book which is filled with more than 200 photographs... [and] has a strong environmental message that good stewardship of our open lands is key to the ecological health of the state...
The family also has played a crucial role in 'managing and improving watershed's condition...'
Langford [captures] numerous up-close images of cardinals, finches, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, warblers, wrens, and killdeer." -- Charles Ealy
Review
"If you're looking for the perfect coffee table book for yourself or to give for Christmas, you'd have a hard time finding a better one than this. It offers a multitude of color photos that bring to brilliant life the factual narrative about the 13,00-acre Hillingdon Ranch...
While Cantu's narrative is esssential to bringing together the multitude of color photographs, it will be the visual images that first capture the attention for those who open the book's covers... It is impossible to view just a few of Langford's photos without turning another, and still another page to see the next. It's a beautiful book. Buy it as a gift or for yourself, but either way, be sure to enjoy both the photographs and the text." --Marie Beth Jones
Review
and#8220;Langford and Cantu have recently combined their talents to produce a beautiful book, Hillingdon Ranch: Four Seasons, Six Generations, about land stewardship over six generations on a Texas Hill Country ranch. Most Texas Photographic books are just that, books of pretty photographs, but I learned something I didnand#8217;t know in each section from both Langfordand#8217;s photographand#8217;s and Cantuand#8217;s prose. If I were Going to give someone a book to explain how a modern ranch is run, this is the book I would give them. When I asked David Langford why he thought the Giles family had been such careful stewards of the land for so long, he said, and#8220;I think it has to do with continuity of ownership. When youand#8217;ve been the recipient of a great gift like this ranch you want to pass it on interact.and#8221; With Hillingdon Ranch: Four Seasons, Six Generations Langford and Cantu have passed that gift on to the public, and at a bargain price too.and#8221;and#8212;Lonn Taylor, the Big Bend Sentinel
Review
"Turning the pages ofand#160; Hillingdon Ranch, readers will see both the beauty and the hardship of liver on the land. That mantle of responsibility has been handed down through the years to sons and daughters, who take the task of stewardship to heart." -- Stephanie M. Salinas, Texas Parks and Wildlife
About the Author
DAVID K. LANGFORD is former executive vice president of the Texas Wildlife Association and owner of Western Photography Company. He lives on the Laurels Ranch, his piece of the Hillingdon family land near Comfort. LORIE WOODWARD CANTU, of San Angelo, is president of Woodward Communications, a research, writing, and public relations company specializing in agriculture and natural resource issues.