Coast – Our Island Story, Nicholas Crane
Coast is a definitive narrative of Nicholas Crane’s journey of discovery around the edges of Britain and Ireland and the culmination of five years presenting the BBC’s successful series. On a journey of exploration, Crane describes how we discovered and embraced our coastline – the key to our island identity.
How England Made the English, Harry Mount
Harry Mount's “How England Made the English: From Why We Drive on the Left to Why We Don't Talk to Our Neighbours” is packed with astonishing facts and wonderful stories. Q. Why are English train seats so narrow? A. It's all the Romans' fault. The first Victorian trains were built to the same width as horse-drawn wagons; and they were designed to fit the ruts left in the roads by Roman chariots. For readers of Paxman's “The English”, Bryson's “Notes on a Small Island” and Fox's “Watching the English”, this intriguing and witty book explains how our national characteristics – our sense of humour, our hobbies, our favourite foods and our behaviour with the opposite sex – are all defined by our nation's extraordinary geography, geology, climate and weather …
Our Garden Birds, Matt Sewell
In this beautiful, collectible new volume, street artist Matt Sewell offers his own unique take on 52 of our favourite British garden birds. Since its first appearance in July 2009, Matt’s ‘Bird of the Week’ feature for the Caught by the River website has quickly become a cult hit …
The Canal Guide: Britain’s 50 Best Canals, Stuart Fisher
This attractive guidebook shows off just how rich our waterways heritage is. Picking out Britain's 50 most beautiful and interesting canals, Stuart Fisher gives a lively background to the history, wildlife, pubs and nearby attractions of each waterway …
The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, Robert McFarlane
In “The Old Ways” Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove – roads and sea paths that form part of a vast network of routes criss-crossing the British landscape and its waters, and connecting them to the continents beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, of pilgrimage and ritual, and of songlines and their singers …
The Story of England, Michael Wood
In “The Story of England Michael Wood” tells the extraordinary story of one English community over fifteen centuries, from the moment that the Roman Emperor Honorius sent his famous letter in 410 advising the English to look to their own defences to the village as it is today. The village of Kibworth in Leicestershire lies at the very centre of England. It has a church, some pubs, the Grand Union Canal, a First World War Memorial – and many centuries of recorded history …