BBC Radio Four Book of the Week Hedge Britannia is a
portrait of the nation unlike any other. It is a tale of
how agricultural and gardening traditions came to the
British Isles, and of how our ideas of territory,
neighbours and boundaries came to define town and
country alike. Over the centuries we have proved
ourselves to be a nation of ardent hedge-growers and
this has shaped the landscape we know today. From
rolling acres to suburban plots, nothing would be quite
the same if the hedge had not made its appearance. It
was the arrival of hedges that turned the forests and
open pastures of our ancestors into a land of segregated
fields, twisting hedgerows, enclosed gardens and,
eventually, over-the-top topiary, decorative borders and
controversial leylandii. Hugh Barker, a hedge
enthusiast, has journeyed across Britain to explore its
remarkable variety of gardens and hedgerows. Over the
course of his travels he discovers how hedges are among
our most ancient monuments, meets hedgelaying champions
and topiary fanatics, and sees the lengths to which some
people will go to annoy the neighbours.Along the way he
tells how the garden hedge became associated with
paradise, why the British army planted a barrier hedge
hundreds of miles long in India, and how the notorious
enclosures during the Industrial Revolution turned the
country upsidedown. Informative, revealing, anecdotal
and just a little eccentric, this is a sweeping history
of Britain as you've never seen it before. |
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