This history describes the ever-changing nature of Britain's countryside. Exploring both the natural and man-made features of the land - fields, highways, hedgerows, fens, marshes, rivers, heaths, coasts, woods and pastures - the book shows how they have developed over the centuries and, in doing so, covers a wealth of related subjects to demonstrate the sometimes subtle and sometime radical ways in which people, fauna, flora, climate, soils and other physical conditions have played their part in the shaping of the countryside.