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The Lie of the Land
- Who Really Cares for the Countryside?
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
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Summary
The Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain reveals how landowners wreck the countryside, and how the public can restore it
'Brave and brilliant’ George Monbiot
‘Guy Shrubsole has done it again' Lee Schofield
'Essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of an environment we must – somehow – all share' Marion Shoard
For centuries we’ve been sold a lie: that you need to own the land to care for it.
Just 1% of the population own half of England, and this tiny landowning elite like to present themselves as the rightful custodians of the countryside. They’re even paid billions of pounds of public money to be good stewards. But what happens when they just don’t care?
A small number of landowners have laid waste to some of our most treasured landscapes, leaving our forests bare, our rivers polluted, our moorlands burned, and our fenlands drained. Here Guy Shrubsole journeys all over Britain to expose the damage done to our land, and meet the communities fighting back: the river guardians, small farmers and trespassing activists restoring our lost wildlife. Full of rage and hope, this is a bold vision for our nation’s wild places, and how we can treat them with the awe and attention they deserve.
It’s time to demand better for nature. We can start by replacing the lie of the land with a profound truth: that any of us can care for the countryside, regardless of whether you own it.
Critic reviews
‘This book beautifully subverts the central orthodoxy of England, that owning land is the only way to care for it. Rather than being against landowners, its message is one of hope and inclusion for every one of us, that the welfare of the land has always been the interest, expertise and responsibility of its communities’ Nick Hayes, author of The Book of Trespass
'A groundplan to recover England’s green and pleasant land' Alastair McIntosh, author of Soil and Soul
'A clarion call for a more joined up approach to land use – and one that considers the responsibilities as well as the rights of land ownership. Shrubsole has the belly fire of a campaigner but the precision of an historian. This book should be on the reading list of any new Secretary of State thinking about land use’ Roger Mortlock, Chief Executive, The Countryside Charity