When Philip Marsden moved to a remote, creekside farmhouse in Cornwall, the intensity of his response took him aback. It led him to wonder why we react so strongly to certain places and set him off on a journey on foot westwards to Land's End through one of the most myth-rich regions of Europe. From the Neolithic ritual landscape of Bodmin Moor to the Arthurian traditions at Tintagel, from the mysterious china-clay region to the granite tors and tombs of the far south-west, Marsden assembles a chronology of Britain's attitude to place. In archives, he uncovers the life and work of other enthusiasts before him - medieval chroniclers and Tudor topographers, eighteenth-century antiquarians, post-industrial poets and abstract painters. Drawing also on his travels from further afield, Marsden reveals that the shape of the land lies not just at the heart of our own history but of man's perennial struggle to belong on this earth.

A widely-celebrated book from an award-winning writer, this is an evocative journey around some of the country's most ancient sites and ritual places, and a profound exploration of the relationship between man and the landscape

About the Author
PHILIP MARSDEN is a writer and journalist. He is the author of several works of travel writing and non-fiction, including most recently The Levelling Sea and The Barefoot Emperor, and a novel, The Main Cages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Cornwall with his wife and children.

Awards
Short-listed for Wainwright Prize for Nature and Travel Writing 2015 (UK) and Stanford-Dolman Best Travel Book Award 2015 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9781847086303
Author Philip Marsden
Format Paperback
Page Count 352
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 307g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 22mm