England is one of the world’s oldest countries, and has a rich history. But if you used to fall off the back of your chair at history class in school, these books are far more interesting!
England: A Natural History is the ultimate guide to our countryside and native wildlife. England is a series of distinctive habitats that unite to create a landscape that is unique, for its rich diversity of flora and fauna.
In his book, the author explores each habitat in turn, taking us from coast to moor, from downs to field, from the park to the village – to create a vivid living portrait of our natural history:
- Clear waters & dragonflies
- Bluebells, badgers & stag beetles
- Wild thyme & granite cliffs
- Rock pools & sandy beaches
- Red deer standing at ancient trees
- The wayside flowers of the lane
- Hedgehogs & hares
- Snow on the high peak
Each landscape (be it calm green or wild moor, plunging cliff or flatland fen) has shaped our idea of ourselves, and a sense of what it is to be in England.
A Journey of Britain (over seventy years)
About Britain is a book to take you beyond the capital, to explore Britain as a living country. In 1951, thirteen guides celebrated the rural splendour of our island nature, and now historian Tim takes to the roads, to find out what has changed. And what has remained the same, in the 70 years since the guides were first published.
From Oban (in the Highlands) to Torquay (and taking in Welsh Caernarvon to Cambridge), he explores visible changes to our landscape, and subtle social and cultural shifts that lie beneath. This is a warm timely meditation on our changing relationship with landscape, industry and transport.
As he looks out on apple orchards and vineyards, power stations and slate mines, and (in the modern age) vast greenhouses and fulfilment centres for shopping online, this is a stark contrast with the guidebooks of yesteryear. The book covers:
- West Country
- Wessex
- Home counties
- East Anglia
- Chilterns to Black Country
- South Wales and the Marches
- North Wales and the Marches
- East Midlands the Peak
- Lancashire and Yorkshire
- The Lakes to Tyneside
- Lowlands of Scotland
- Highlands and Islands of Scotland
Professor Tim Cole is Professor of Social History at Bristol University. He previously wrote a book on the Holocaust, which was commended by the jury of the Fraenkel Prize.
A Charming Journey through England’s Villages
England’s Villages is a stunning book by the host of BBC2’s Villages by the Sea. What makes a village, and how have some survived and others thrived? Take a charming unexpected journey through the quirks of England’s villages through the ages, with the excellent company of archaeologist Dr Ben Robinson as your guide.
Join him in visiting prehistoric to Roman to medieval villages, through to modern urban villages of today. Learn how landowners, governments and communities have shaped villages, and why village greens, pubs and halls exist. And the meaning behind names like Great Snoring!
The history of England is in large part a history of its villages. Villages have much more to offer than first meets the eye, but often you have to do a little work to uncover their secrets.
A hamlet is defined as a small village, especially one without a church. Yet Bicester Village is second only to Buckingham Palace among Britain’s must-see destinations for Chinese tourists: no residents, all private property and the same fashion stores you find in shopping centres all over the world.
Dr Ben Robinson is an archaeologist who currently works for Historic England. He has presented for the BBC including co-presenting a series of Britain’s most historic towns with Coast’s Dr Alice Roberts.
A Book to Explore 70 Ancient Places in Britain
Secret Britain looks at this country of ancient wonders: not grand with ‘Egyptian pyramids’ but containing over 70 intriguing ancient places.
This book explores the mysteries behind them from an Ice Age cannibal’s skull cap to a hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold. Anthropologist Mary-Anne Ochota unearths small strange places and objects, that hint at a deep enduring relationship with the mystic.
Illustrated with beautiful photographs, the wonders include buried treasure, outdoor places of worship and caves filled with medieval carvings. Explore famous sites like Stonehenge.
Also discover The Lindow Man bog body (with neatly trimmed hair and manicured fingernails, despite having been killed 2000 years ago). And the Uffington White Horse (maintained by an unbroken chain of people for 3000 years).
Every step you take in Britain treads on the past. A street now filled with shops and houses might once have been a royal palace. An anonymous farmers’ field glimpsed from a car window, might have borne witness to the last gasps of a bloody battle.
Mary-Ann Ochota gives guided walks and performs archaeological storytelling. She’s a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, hillwalking ambassador for the British Mountaineering Council and holds an MA from Cambridge University in Archaeology and Anthropology.
