Tour England from your Armchair

 

Have you long dreamed of visiting England's famous Lake District, exploring the Cotswolds, hiking in the Dales or the Welsh or Scottish border but feel that time has robbed you of the possibility? It’s never too late or too arduous for armchair travel, and the “Regions of Britain” series of books, written by various authors and published by Robert Hale Limited, might be just what you’re looking for. 

 

Breckland and Breck are arresting, alien words, suggestive of the stony, barren district they describe. It lies partly in Norfolk, partly in Suffolk, some four hundred square miles which might be roughly circumscribed by a line drawn through Narborough, Castle Acre, Watton, Attleborough, East Harling, Garboldisham and Mildenhall. Within that line the characteristics of the country are curiously like those of the steppelands of south-eastern Europe. For though it is bounded by chalk and peat, Breckland itself is covered by a pall of sand of varying thicknesses, where flowers, birds and insects flourish, some of which are unknown in other parts of England, while others are found only by the sea. Large, flint-strewn open fields and derelect areas are typical of every parish. They are known locally as Brecks….

So begins Chapter I, “At First Sight,” of Breckland, by Olive Cook. Published in 1956, Breckland is illustrated with photographs by Edwin Smith, the author’s husband. 

Cook was born in Cambridge and received her M.A. from Newnham College. She met her husband, artist Edwin Smith, while working with artists through England’s National Gallery, and the two of them collaborated more than once, his photographs accompanied by her text. Cook wrote other books on the English countryside and country houses, as well as children’s books, and earned her own place in the art world with her paintings. 

 

Flints and sand, heaths, warrens, and rivers fill the pages of Olive Cook’s account of Breckland. Open at any page, and you are offered the opportunity to lose yourself in delight. 

 

The rabbit is king of the heath, the animal that flourishes best in Breckland. The very aspect of the warren is due in part to the rabbit’s activities. Where he has cropped it, the heather is as green as grass and so short that it rarely blooms; he keeps the turf smooth and springy, he levels the moss which lines heathland tracks; he tunnels into every slope, kicking out the sand with his strong hind legs....

 

These are but brief glimpses into a single volume from the Robert Hale series. Volumes may be purchased individually, or the 17 volumes I have (thirty-one were published in the series) may be purchased together, at great savings and for lifelong enjoyment.