Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #988 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 544 pages

Robert Macfarlane, Sunday Times Book Review
'The book is a success of organisation...an exemplary piece of book craft... The best guidebooks...inspire adventure, improvisation and the learning that comes from discovery. Somerville's book is in that valuable tradition.'

Sunday Telegraph
`Christopher Somerville's magnificent gazetteer to Britain and Ireland's wild places could not be more timely'

Western Daily Press (West Country Life)
`Britain and Ireland's best Wild Places is a beautifully presented volume...deftly and lyrically described in a way that is sure to lure the romantic wanderer'

Customer Reviews

Wild about the places
A culmination of many years of travelling the country, this is a fantastic collection of nooks, crannies and odd corners that have largely gone overlooked by the rest of us as we rush about our daily lives. A visit to any of these places would be time very well spent, but just curling up in a corner with it is a fine form of escape too if circumstances don't allow you to get away.

A perfect partner to 'Places to Hide' by Dixe Wills which similarly takes readers to the most unlikely of places and makes them laugh at the same time, which is quite a feat.

Anyway, I've no hesitation in awarding Somerville five stars for a great idea well executed.

How to take a walk on the wild side
As soon as I saw this book, I knew that it would appeal to me. At present there are a great number of similarly themed books, all encouraging the reader to relinquish their place from the sofa and instead to get out into the countryside and experience the places within the pages for themselves. BRITAIN AND IRELAND'S BEST WILD PLACES is perhaps one of the best ways of beginning to do exactly that.

The book is organised into regions, beginning with The West Country, moving upwards throughout Britain before fianlly moving across to Ireland.
Each wild place has details of mapping and travel instructions, plus other useful information. For example, in the Republic of Ireland Somerville details the Nephin Beg mountains. Stating that the walk is a long one - 23 miles - he advises that you should not consider doing the walk solo unless very well experienced. And of course, that you should have all of the proper equipment if you do go on it. At the beginning of each section there is also a lovely old style map of the area, illustrating at a glance where each place is located.
For me, the success and delight of this book is the lay-out. You could easily give it as a gift to someone. Many of the wild places have an accompanying colour picture to tempt you, showing just enough of their allure to wet your appetite. But it is also the way that Somerville writes about the places which captures your imagination. The entry for Woodchester Mansion, for example, brilliantly manages to create the sense of the gothic that Somerville describes. Likewise, his entry for the "Bronte moors" shows how such a desolate and wild place could help to mold the literary imaginations of three young women.
This book is an absolute delight. I am so glad I purchased it. Not only because I love walking and the countryside, but also because I love things which can play on my mind and maybe even ignite a creative flame within. This is a book I shall continually dip into whether at home or going away on holiday - as a way to find those unknown places, this is a must.

a great travelling companion
A lovely book - you feel compelled to read about places you have been to and driven to explore pastures new. A book to refer to on any trip to unfamiliar territory and a fabulous gift for anyone who likes to walk.