'The Country of Larks' is the story of Gail Simmonds attempt to catalogue the true cost of High Speed 2, already the world’s most expensive railway without accounting for the loss of 1000 year old landscapes, as she traverses the Chilterns of her childhood.
The resulting tale is a love letter to the landscapes on our own doorsteps, quite literally for Londoners for whom this is the only AONB accessible by Underground. Redolent with concerned pre-nostalgia, Gail meets historians, farmers, campaigners and commuters each contributing their own perspective on value of this 21st Century feat or folly.
In this strange time when the wilder bounds are out of reach, Gail’s steady pace and persuasive prose allows us to appreciate anew nature’s simple wonders. A profound meditation on not knowing what we have until it’s gone.
“A lyrical account of a walk through place and time, and an elegy to a very special part of the English landscape.” Stephen Moss, author and naturalist
Catch up with February's live conversation with Gail.
