Rural Walks is an early work of children's literature by Charlotte Turner Smith, first published in 1795.
The book was intended to introduce children to both poetry and natural history, partly inspired by Anna Laetitia Barbaulds' Evenings at Home (1792–1796).
Like her other educational works for children, it was primarily intended for an audience of girls, since boys would have access to formal schooling which made such books less necessary for them.
[1] Smith was initially successful as a poet and then a novelist, writing sentimental and Gothic novels, but sales declined as her pro-revolutionary political opinions made her less popular.
Caroline has been spoiled by her upbringing in London, but when her mother dies she is sent to the countryside to be taken care of by her father's sister, Mrs. Woodfield.