The Making of the British Landscape - Nicholas Crane

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.