Publisher's Synopsis
Fiona Stafford unpeels layers and layers of Britain's landscape to reveal the stories within. A fascinating compendium of people and places and how they endlessly interact to change each other. ― Philip Marsden
A village waits at the bottom of a reservoir. A monkey puzzle tree bristles in a suburban garden. A skein of wild geese fly over a rusty rail viaduct. The vast inland sea that awed John Clare has become fields.
Chapter by fascinating chapter, alive with literary, local, and her own family history, Fiona Stafford reveals the forces, both natural and human, which transform places. Swooping along coastlines, through forests and across fens, following in the footsteps of Burns and Keats, Celia Fiennes and Charles Dickens, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Noel Coward and Compton Mackenzie, join her, time-travelling deep into the stories of our Isles.
From red squirrels to brick vistas, from botanical gardens to hot springs, the landscapes of Britain are full of delights and surprises. Chance discoveries of rare species, shipwrecks and unlikely ruins, curious trees and startling towers, weird caves and disused airfields, or even just baffling placenames offer ways into unexpected histories and hidden lives. The clues to the past are all round us - Time and Tide will help you find them.
Consistently and continuously engaging, indeed compelling . . . an invigoration to read and a pleasure to hold, in the hands as in the memory. The book initiates and extends a new genre, where autobiographical components exemplify an investment of personal commitment, while scholarly objectivity complements an emotional trust in a community of sympathy. It's a pleasure to read, and reread, and return to, and give as a gift to all friends whose values might be shared in celebration. ― Professor Alan Riach
Engaging . . . personal, gentle, meandering . . . Yet buzzing with surprising connections and brilliant cross-references.Shot through with tender delights and unexpected revelations! ― Richard Holmes
