The Shell country alphabet : the classic guide to the British countryside from apple trees to stone circles

In the 1960s Geoffrey Grigson travelled around England writing the story of the secret landscape that is all around us, if only we take the time to look and see. The result is a book that will take you on an imaginative journey, revealing hidden stories, unexpected places and strange phenomena. From green men, ice-scratches, cross-legged knights and weathercocks to rainbows, clouds and stars; from place-names and poets to mazes, dene-holes and sham ruins, via avenues, dewponds and village greens, __The Shell Country Alphabet__ will help you discover the world that remains, just off the motorway. __'__Geoffrey Grigson resurrected the minor, the provincial and the parochial ... [he was] an erudite and unrivalled topographer ... ardent in promoting informed awareness of the distinctiveness of place' Toby Barnard 'An anthologist of genius' P.J. Kavanagh When is the best time to spot a shooting star or a glow worm? Where does a 'ha-ha' get its name? From weathercocks to rainbows, place names and poets to mazes, dene-holes, crypts and sham ruins, this book can help you look beyond the familiar sights of our landscape and discover the hidden, magical world that remains, just off the motorway.