FORMER England rugby player Phil Vickery is set to spend the next 14 months stalking, fishing and hunting in the wild.
The 34-year-old from Taynton, near Newent, retired from professional rugby last year due to a serious neck injury, after a glittering career that saw him gain a World Cup winner's medal and 73 caps for his country.
The man they call Raging Bull is currently working on Celebrity Masterchef, but last week he was clay pigeon shooting in St Briavels – ahead of a four-book collaboration with Barry Hutchinson and local photographer and publisher Guy Woodland about British field sports.
Guy said: "We want to take Phil on a journey through field sports.
"He will be the second author and the books will feature his experiences and opinions.
"Phil is very forthright so the books won't be staid and heavy.
"It's a controversial area but our philosophy is simple.
"We want to enjoy the sport but we also have a responsibility to the demise of the animal. What you shoot and catch, you eat."
Phil is set to go spring fishing on the Wye and shooting partridge in Yorkshire. He will also spend plenty of time hunting in Scotland and Wales – far away from Murrayfield and the Millennium Stadium.
"Phil is a farmer's son from Bude so he has done some shooting before, but he is what I would call a farmer's shooter," said Guy.
"I'm not sure if he has any experience with rifles.
"He has a lot to learn but getting him to do this project was not a hard sell.
"He is a sportsman, and sportsmen will always do the best they can.
"Because he is doing Celebrity Masterchef we can't work out a full schedule, but most of our stuff will happen in the autumn."
Vickery said: "I am hoping to become a ruralist ambassador of sorts, extolling the values and etiquette that make the countryside and the sporting scene something very uniquely British and something to be proud of."