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Apples, bandstands, beach huts, black dogs, breweries, bricks, cakes, causeways, chalk horses, cheese rolling, cider, cooling towers, curbstones, dances, dialect, dry stone walls, fens, fire festivals, foxes, gargoyles, geology, ghosts, heaths, heronries, ice houses, jet, lagoons, maypoles, mazes, moats, nightingales, peat, pies, primrose banks, quicksand, rhubarb, sheep, spoil heaps, terraced houses, topiary, weather, windmills, zawns — England is a land of extraordinary variety, rich in buildings, landscapes, peoples and wildlife. But this diversity is under siege. Mass production, fashion, increased mobility and the forceful promotion of corporate identity have brought with them standardised shop fronts, farm buildings, factories, forests and front doors, while intensive farming has created a bland, empty countryside. England in Particular is a counterblast against loss and uniformity, and a celebration of just some of the distinctive details that cumulatively make England. It is the culmination of more than twenty years' work by Sue Clifford and Angela King, who founded Common Ground with Roger Deakin. England in Particular is a ground-breaking work, destined to become a classic. |
