Overhead there was a wonderful carolling of larks which ...to the highways and byways of her...

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THE COUNTRY OF LARKS A Chiltern Journey In the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson and the footprint of HS2 GAIL SIMMONS 18.5mm 192 mm 121mm 121mm 19mm 19mm 19mm 19mm Overhead there was a wonderful carolling of larks which seemed to follow me as I went. Indeed, they began to form so integral a part of my conception of the country, that I could have baptized it ‘The Country of Larks’. R L Stevenson, ‘In the Beechwoods’, 1875 I n the autumn of 1874, the author Robert Louis Stevenson set out on a three-day journey across the gently rolling Chiltern Hills. Almost 150 years later, spurred by the looming construction of the HS2 railway, Gail Simmons took to the highways and byways of her childhood to follow in his footsteps. Combining her walk through beech woods, farmland and villages dating back to the Domesday Book with impassioned interviews and personal memories, she peels back the layers of history, recording forever a world destined for change. e Country of Larks is both a lyrical account of a walk through place and time, and an elegy to a very special part of the English landscape – now threatened in the name of progress.’ Stephen Moss, author and naturalist www.bradtguides.com 9 781784 770808 51999 Published by Bradt Travel Guides UK £11.99 Published by The Globe Pequot Press US $19.99 Travel/Nature Writing ISBN 978 1 78477 080 8 GAIL SIMMONS THE COUNTRY OF LARKS A Chiltern Journey BT ACOL Cover Art PRINT TEST.indd 2 18/01/2019 07:48

Transcript of Overhead there was a wonderful carolling of larks which ...to the highways and byways of her...

Page 1: Overhead there was a wonderful carolling of larks which ...to the highways and byways of her childhood to follow in his footsteps. Combining her walk through beech woods, farmland

THE COUNTRYOF LARKS

A Chiltern Journey

In the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson

and the footprint of HS2

G A I L S I M M O N S

18.5mm

192 mm

121mm 121mm19mm 19mm

19mm

19mm

Overhead there was a wonderful carolling of larks which seemed to follow me as I went. Indeed, they began to form so integral a part of my conception of the country, that I could have baptized it ‘The Country of Larks’. R L Stevenson, ‘In the Beechwoods’, 1875

In the autumn of 1874, the author Robert Louis Stevenson set out on a three-day journey across the gently rolling Chiltern Hills. Almost 150 years later, spurred by the

looming construction of the HS2 railway, Gail Simmons took to the highways and byways of her childhood to follow in his footsteps. Combining her walk through beech woods, farmland and villages dating back to the Domesday Book with impassioned interviews and personal memories, she peels back the layers of history, recording forever a world destined for change.

‘� e Country of Larks is both a lyrical account of a walk through place and time, and an elegy to a very special part of the English landscape – now threatened in the name of progress.’ Stephen Moss, author and naturalist

www.bradtguides.com

9 781784 770808

51999

Published by Bradt Travel Guides UK £11.99

Published by The Globe Pequot Press US $19.99

Travel/Nature Writing

ISBN 978 1 78477 080 8

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BT ACOL Cover Art PRINT TEST.indd 2 18/01/2019 07:48