Sixteen Acres is an exploration of global change through the story of a small apple farm in north Essex and its orchard-keeper. Originating as a chronicle of a year on the farm - a detailed record of the weather, soil, trees and farming practice, from the perspective of a curious neighbour – these visits lead to an exploration of land, climate and economics; the food we eat and the plants that produce it; and the uncomfortable relationship between ecological conservation, heritage and living culture. The book moves from microscopic observation of the seasonal cycle on the farm, backwards through the last century of economic disruption, and forward to an unexpected future. It examines how humans and plants adapt, in a mutually dependent tangle, to unpredictable change.

An opening segment of Sixteen Acres was a Runner-Up for the Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize 2025.

'A year on a small apple orchard with Hana Loftus teaches us so much about the history of modern agriculture, the minutiae of climate crisis, and shows how the form and flavour of an apple can contain so much of human culture. I was captivated by the beauty of Loftus's prose, by her brilliant critical interventions into the question of 'tradition', and by her passionate love for odd apples' — Rebecca May Johnson, author of SMALL FIRES

'An utterly engrossing and captivating glimpse of a vanishing world' — Dave Goulson, author of SILENT EARTH

'A hypnotic and poetic exploration of the life of the orchard. I found it fascinating, and the gentle unwinding of time to establish the orchard in question brought me a deep feeling of connection to the natural world. A love song to the seasons and to the old ways, I gobbled SIXTEEN ACRES up in big, juicy, nourishing bites!' — Roisin Macguire, author of SNOW BIRDS

A poignant and personal tale of orchards and apples, told with tenderness and love — Dr James Canton, author of THE OAK PAPERS

'In an historic orchard on the Essex border, Hana Loftus walks and admiringly records the lives of the farmer Andrew and his predecessors, whose cultivation of nearly three hundred varieties of apple, pears, cherries, plums, gages, quinces and medlars, is detailed in this lyrical and compelling calendar of the rural year, told with warm affection' — Ken Worpole, author of LAST LANDSCAPES

‘A delightful book and a rewarding immersion in land’ -- Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read a Tree

'A hypnotic and poetic exploration of the life of the orchard. I found it fascinating, and the gentle unwinding of time brought me a deep feeling of connection to the natural world. A love song to the seasons and to the old ways.' -- Roisin Maguire, author of Night Swimmers