This is the changing story of Britain as it has been preserved in our fields, roads, buildings, towns and villages, mountains, forests and islands. From our suburban streets that still trace out the boundaries of long vanished farms to the Norfolk Broads, formed when medieval peat pits flooded, from the ceremonial landscapes of Stonehenge to the spread of the railways - evidence of how man's effect on Britain is everywhere. In The Making of the British Landscape, eminent historian, archaeologist and farmer, Francis Pryor explains how to read these clues to understand the fascinating history of our land and of how people have lived on it throughout time. Covering both the urban and rural and packed with pictures, maps and drawings showing everything from how we can still pick out Bronze Age fields on Bodmin Moor to how the Industrial Revolution really changed our landscape, this book makes us look afresh at our surroundings and really see them for the first time.

How much do we really know about the place we call 'home'? In this sweeping, timely book, Nicholas Crane tells the story of Britain. ***** Over the course of 12,000 years of continuous human occupation, the British landscape has been transformed form a European peninsula of glacier and tundra to an island of glittering cities and exquisite countryside. In this geographical journey through time, we discover the ancient relationship between people and place and the deep-rooted tensions between town and countryside. From tsunamis to Roman debacles, from henge to high-rise and hamlet to metropolis, this is a book about change and adaptation. As Britain lurches towards a more sustainable future, it is the story of our age. 'A geographer's love letter to the British and the land that formed them ... dramatic, lyrical and even inspiring' Sunday Times 'A magnificent, epic work by a national treasure ... A tour de force' Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

Nicholas Crane's new book brilliantly describes the evolution of England's countryside and cities. It is part journey, part history, and it concludes with awkward questions about the future of England's landscapes. Nick Crane's story begins with the melting tongues of glaciers and the emergence of a gigantic game-park tentatively being explored by a vanguard of Mesolithic adventurers who have taken the long, northward hike across the land bridge from the continent. The Iron Age develops into a pre-Roman 'Golden Era' and Nick Crane looks at what the Romans did (and didn't) contribute to the British landscape. The major landscape 'events' (Black Death, enclosures, urbanisation, recreation, etc.) are fully described and he weaves in the major generic drivers behind the British landscape: the role played by geology in shaping our cities, industry and recreation, the effect of climate (and the Gulf Stream), and of global economics (the Lancashire valleys were formed by overseas markets). The co-presenter of BBC's 'Coast' also covers the extraordinary benefits bestowed by a 6,000-mile coastline. The 10,000-year story of the British landscape culminates in the 21st century, which is set to be one of the most extreme centuries of change since the Ice Age. Nick Crane describes how this island came to be so incredibly diverse in this celebration of our wonderful landscapes.