Amanda Davey

Amanda Davey has written a variety of non-fiction books, most notably 'In their Landscape: the churches. chapels and ruined places of worship in the South Downs National Park'. A geographer, landscape architect and one-time map curator, she grew up daughter/grand-daughter of civil engineers plus daughter/grand-daughter/great-grand-daughter of artists. Marriage for 35+ years to an ecologist added to the diversity of interests, and her writing is all about sharing unusual and unpredictable true experiences in the world around us.

Amanda illustrated Simon Davey's Scilly Birding: Joining the Madding Crowd (Brambleby Books, 2013) and Is No Problem (Brambleby Books, July 2016, updated Tilia Publishing UK, 2024). She co-authored The Lichens of Jersey (Société Jersiaise, 2015) with Simon Davey.

In 2020 came a Kindle version of It's Warmer Down Below: the autobiography of Sir Harold Harding, 1900-1986. Sir Harold Harding was a high profile civil engineer in the history of tunnelling and geotechnical engineering, once described as ‘tunneller extraordinaire’ by a protegée. He was also Amanda’s grandfather and mentor. The book is packed full of historical anecdotes of civil engineering in the twentieth-century. Many key civil engineering names appear. It is also useful in providing details of twentieth-century projects including the feasibility study for the Channel Tunnel’s, as well as the investigations into the notorious Aberfan disaster as well as many of the tunnels under London.

In 2020, also on Kindle, came her small book on garden wildlife called Freckles and Friends. Funny stories and observations are written with children in mind but have reached all ages. Freckles was a youngster robin. The book includes stories of wrens and bumblebees amongst other observations.

In 2025 came the book on churches that Amanda and Simon had worked on together in the site visits stage, visiting 273+ churches, chapels and ruined places of worship in the South Downs National Park, called In their Landscape. 11 years of delight in the places, the space and history fact nuggets.

In their Landscape:

"Oh wow! There's ALOT of work that has gone into this book!" "It's so beautiful, I bought a copy for my mother, I now want one for myself" "Please can I buy two copies"

It’s Warmer Down Below:

"This book is so good that I know exactly where it is on the bookshelf" GF, Sussex, "I'm having a lovely time reading this book, I expected it to be very technical but it is actually really readable" GN, Surrey

Freckles and Friends:

"Freckles and Friends is a wonderful, magical and informative book" JL, Clevedon