This story is about a brave and kind Anglo-Saxon princess called Frideswide who lived in Oxford a long time ago and just happened to be brilliant at climbing very tall trees. Her talent came in useful one day when a wicked king tried to kidnap her. How did she and her friends escape, and what happened to the king and his soldiers? With stunning illustrations by award-winning artist Alan Marks, Saint Frideswide's legend is retold for young children as a tale of adventure, courage in the face of danger, friendship, and kindness, with a few surprises along the way. The church Frideswide founded in Oxford was on the site of what is now Christ Church, and her medieval shrine can still be seen inside the Cathedral. This beautiful picture book is sure to be treasured by any child who loves tales of adventure. It will appeal to children learning about the Anglo-Saxons, to readers who like feisty heroines and to visitors to Oxford, as a meaningful souvenir of their visit.

Colwall lies on the western slopes of the Malvern Hills, near the market town of Ledbury. The large village comprises Colwall Stone, Upper Colwall and Colwall Green. On the Herefordshire Beacon, in the south-eastern corner of the parish, is the Iron Age `British Camp'. At the time of Domesday Book the bishop of Hereford's manor covered the whole parish, but shortly afterwards Barton Colwall manor was created to endow a prebend in the cathedral. Between the 15th and 17th centuries resident gentry established themselves on other estates, which came to characterise the pattern of landownership. Until the 19th century Colwall's economy was predominantly agricultural, including cultivation of orchards and hops. From the mid 19th century the northern part of the parish was transformed by the development of the spa at neighbouring Malvern, and by the arrival of the railway in 1861, following the construction of tunnels under the Malvern Hills by local engineer Stephen Ballard. Mineral water from Colwall springs was bottled commercially, and in 1892 Schweppes opened a bottling plant at Colwall Stone. Colwall's rural location, natural springs and beautiful scenery attracted visitors to the numerous inns, hotels and boarding houses. Others settled in the parish, occupying new houses including notable arts and crafts villas. In the 21st century the parish continues to attract both visitors and new residents.

The growth and development of the Lincoln Record Society in its first hundred years highlights the contribution of such organisations to historical life. In 2010 the Lincoln Record Society celebrates its centenary with the publication of the hundredth volume in its distinguished series. Local record societies, financed almost entirely from the subscriptions of their members, have made an important contribution to the study of English history by making accessible in printed form some of the key archival materials relating to their areas. The story of the Lincoln society illustrates the struggles and triumphsof such an enterprise. Founded by Charles Wilmer Foster, a local clergyman of remarkable enthusiasm, the LRS set new standards of meticulous scholarship in the editing of its volumes. Its growing reputation is traced here througha rich archive of correspondence with eminent historians, among them Alexander Hamilton Thompson and Frank Stenton. The difficulties with which Kathleen Major, Canon Foster's successor, contended to keep the Society alive duringthe dark days of the Second World War are vividly described. The range of volumes published has continued to expand, from the staple cartularies and episcopal registers to more unusual sources, Quaker minutes, records ofCourts of Sewers and seventeenth-century port books. While many of the best-known publications have dealt with the medieval period, notably the magnificent Registrum Antiquissimum of Lincoln Cathedral, there have also beeneditions of eighteenth-century correspondence, twentieth-century diaries, and pioneering railway photographs of the late Victorian era. This story shows the Lincoln Record Society to be in good heart and ready to begin its secondcentury with confidence. Nicholas Bennett is currently Vice-Chancellor and Librarian of Lincoln Cathedral.

Since it was first broadcast on British television in 1997, Midsomer Murders has become one of the most-beloved detective dramas on television, instantly recognisable for its attractive backdrop at the heart of rural England. The real towns and villages of 'Midsomer' are situated in the Chilterns, the Thames Valley and the Vale of Aylesbury, all areas of outstanding natural beauty, and this illustrated book reveals the many stunning key locations for this popular show. Over forty towns and villages have appeared in the long-running television series, ranging from the hill-top village of Brill (also famous for a real crime, the 'Great Train Robbery') to Waddesdon, home of a Rothschild's manor. Chris Behan, a resident of this area for over thirty years, has used his skill and intimate knowledge of the subject to create a book that is a must for fans of Midsomer Murders and all those who love this charming part of rural England.

The people of Tyrone have the reputation for having 'open hearts and a desire to please' and their folk tales are as varied as their landscape. There are the tales of the amazing feats of the giant Finn McCool and the derring-do of the Red Hand of Ulster as well as the dramatic story of Half-Hung MacNaughton and the hilarious tale of Dixon from Dungannon and his meeting with royalty. All these stories and more are featured in this collection of tales which will take you on an oral tour across the country from the Sperrin Mountains in the west to the flat peatlands of the east.

Duddingston is less than two miles from central Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Yet it has its own identity, and in 2019 it celebrates 60 years of its own conservation society. It has several outstanding grade-A Listed Buildings, including 12th century Duddingston Kirk and 18th century Duddingston House, and a raft of human stories about its residents. Duddingston is also home to Scotland's oldest pub the Sheep Heid, Dr Neils 'secret garden' and Edinburgh's oldest railway, the Innocent. Visitors can enjoy the wildlife of Duddingston Loch and its backdrop Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano. This book shows you how easily it can be explored on foot and by public transport. With over 180 photographs, a self-guided walking tour map and concise, readable text, this short book will reveal hidden secrets of a part of Edinburgh known to few.

First published 1911. Reprinted 2010. Transferred to digital printing"--T.p. verso.

Kent has a long and illustrious military history dating back to the Roman occupation but the first great conflict of the twentieth century brought the horrors of war to a new generation. Thousands of the county's finest young men were sent off to fight in battlefields around the world including Europe's Western Front, which was less than a day's travel from Kent. Because of its proximity to this major war zone, Kent came to play a pivotal role in the conflict. The ports of Dover and Folkestone were the main staging posts for the British Expeditionary Force and the primary points of arrival for the thousands of wounded servicemen being repatriated from the Front. Its hospitals cared for the wounded and its munitions factories produced the armaments needed to fight the war. The county's geographical position also made it a prime target for German air raids and naval bombardments, which brought the terrors of modern war to the civilian population for the first time. Kent at War tells the remarkable story of the First World War as it unfolded and affected the county and its people.

Simon Fairlie is possibly the most influential - and unusual - eco-activist you might not have heard of. The Observer Simon Fairlie is the original hippie. The Idler This is a fascinating, funny and moving record of an extraordinary life lived in extraordinary times. George Monbiot Going to Seed is the unforgettable firsthand account of how the hippie movement flowered in the late 1960s, appeared spent by the Thatcher-consumed 1980s, yet became the seedbed for progressive reform we now take for granted - and continues to inspire generations of rebels and visionaries. At a young age, Simon Fairlie rejected the rat race and embarked on a new trip to find his own path. He dropped out of Cambridge University to hitchhike to Istanbul and bicycle through India. Simon established a commune in France, was arrested multiple times for squatting and civil disobedience, and became a leading figure in protests against the British government's road building programmes of the 1980s and - later - in legislative battles to help people secure access to land for low impact, sustainable living. Over the course of fifty years, we witness a man's drive for self-sufficiency, freedom, authenticity and a deep connection to the land. Simon Fairlie grew up in a middle-class household in leafy middle England. His path had been laid out for him by his father: boarding school, Oxbridge and a career in journalism. But everything changed when Simon's life ran headfirst into London's counterculture in the 1960s. He finds Beat poetry, blues music, cannabis and anti-Vietnam War protests - and a powerful lust to be free. Instead of becoming a celebrated Fleet Street journalist like his father, Simon becomes a labourer, a stonemason, a farmer, a scythesman, a magazine editor and a writer of a very different sort. He shares the highs of his experience, alongside the painful costs of his ongoing search for freedom - estrangement from his family, financial insecurity and the loss of friends and lovers to the excesses of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Going to Seed questions the current trajectory of Western 'progress' - explosive consumerism, growing inequality and environmental devastation; it's for anyone who wonders how we got to such a place. Simon's story is for anyone who wonders what the world might look like if we began to chart a radically different course.

On a winter's day in the mid-1970s the photographer Marcia Bricker Halperin sought warm refuge and, camera in hand, passed through the revolving doors of Dubrow's Cafeteria on Kings Highway. There, between the magical mirrored walls and steaming coffee urns, she found herself as if on a theater set, looking out at a tableau of memorable Brooklyn faces. Enchanted, Halperin returned to Dubrow's again and again. In Kibbitz & Nosh, Halperin reminds us of the days when she would order a coffee, converse with the denizens of Dubrow's on Kings Highway and at its other New York City location in Manhattan's Garment District, and in that relaxed atmosphere execute candid photographs. In keeping with the work of Vivian Maier and Robert Frank, these black-and-white images taken during the waning days of New York City's legendary cafeteria culture are revealing and empathetic. Dubrow's was a restaurant-cum-social club for a generation of New Yorkers; it was a place to chat with friends, an escape from the confines of the family apartment, and a space to dream while looking out onto the traffic on Kings Highway or Seventh Avenue. Beyond Dubrow's on the sidewalks and in the streets, the gritty and fantastic New York of the 1970s appears, ready to come through the revolving doors to order a coffee and a blintz. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies and the lauded historian of the Jewish-American experience Deborah Dash Moore provide essays that illuminate and contextualize Halperin's poignant photographs. Kibbitz & Nosh, with a whiff of nostalgia and full of incisive visual commentary, is a revealing return to this lost third place, the essential cafeteria.

For more than three centuries Oxford has been the subject of fine illustrated books and engraved prints. These exquisitely made illustrations have become part of the historical record, showing how Oxford's identity is rooted in the past and tracing a history of the city's development through the architecture of its most beautiful colleges and university buildings. Prints made by David Loggan in the seventeenth century show us a university where the medieval origins are already largely overlaid by Tudor and Stuart rebuilding. The engravings in the eighteenth-century Oxford Almanacks illustrate a city dominated by neo-classical ideas, while those of the nineteenth century show an increasingly romantic feel for the architecture against its natural background of sky, trees and river. Hand-coloured etchings published by Ackermann in the nineteenth century and Ingram's Memorials of Oxford of 1837 offer a nostalgic portrait of Oxford before development changed it into the modern city it is today. The best of these historic prints are reproduced here to create a panorama of classical Oxford, with an accompanying text describing the origin of each building, institution or public event, together with the salient features of their history. Together they offer an instructive and captivating view of Oxford through the ages.

This biography examines the political journey of James McDowell, a Democratic governor from western Virginia during the Jacksonian Era. The journey was shaped by the crosscurrents of a national debate over slavery, democratic advances, and the Jackson's controversial agenda. A progressive, he joined the state's House of Delegates in 1833, pushing for the end of slavery in the Commonwealth, economic improvements, and a system of public education. Called an abolitionist, he ended his anti-slavery campaign, enlarged his plantation holdings, and climbed the political ladder. In 1843, he became governor and congressman until his death in 1851. The author covers regional and national issues, the multiple burdens of his wife, Susan, who was left alone with her children at home, and other personal crises. An intellectual, noted orator, and diligent party activist, McDowell often opposed the status quo and was an important moderate voice who defended the Constitution at a time of severe sectional divide.

The old kingdom of Gwynedd - the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia), Ynys (Anglesey) and the Llyn Peninsula - may be the most mythic landscape in Britain. The ancient Druids and from it sprang the tales of Blessed Bran who protected the land, wizards who made a Woman of Flowers, and Merlin the dragon whisperer whose prophecy echoes still. The poet Taliesin walked these hills, Welsh bards told stories of Arthur by these hearths and saints made pilgrimages along these paths. From these hidden nooks the Tylwyth Teg (Fair Folk) emerged to tease the people, and through these mountain passes rode Llywelyn the Great and Owain Glyndw r, living lives that would be spun into legend. Storyteller and singer Eric Maddern has gathered these old tales here and breathed fresh life into them.

Unleashed by ancient geologic forces, a magnitude 8.25 earthquake rocked San Francisco in the early hours of April 18, 1906. Less than a minute later, the city lay in ruins. Bestselling author Simon Winchester brings his inimitable storytelling abilities to this extraordinary event, exploring the legendary earthquake and fires that spread horror across San Francisco and northern California in 1906 as well as its startling impact on American history and, just as important, what science has recently revealed about the fascinating subterranean processes that produced it--and almost certainly will cause it to strike again.

'Somerville knows more about wooden barn construction than almost anyone alive.'-The Telegraph 'A joyful reminder of why nature, being outside, being together and creating beauty is so good for the soul.'-Kate Humble, broadcaster and author of A Year of Living Simply 'For all our advances, it's hard to deny the modern world brings with it new ills of disconnection and disenfranchisement, but here in Barn Club they've found their cure.'-Barn the Spoon, master craftsman and author of Spon Nature meets traditional craft in this celebration of the elm tree, beautiful buildings and community spirit. Barn Club calls on us to discover our landscapes more intimately and to explore the joys of making beautiful things by hand, together. When renowned craftsman Robert Somerville moved to Hertfordshire, he discovered an unexpected landscape rich with wildlife and elm trees. Nestled within London's commuter belt, this wooded farmland inspired Somerville, a lifelong woodworker, to revive the ancient tradition of hand-raising barns. Barn Club follows the building of Carley Barn over the course of one year. Volunteers from all walks of life joined Barn Club, inspired to learn this ancient skill of building elm barns by hand, at its own quiet pace and in the company of others, while using timber from the local woods. The tale of the elm tree in its landscape is central to Barn Club. Its natural history, historic importance and remarkable survival make for a fascinating story. This is a tale of forgotten trees, a local landscape and an ancient craft. This book includes sixteen pages of colour photographs, and black and white line drawings of techniques and traditional timber frame barns feature throughout.

The son of one of the greatest writers of our time-Nobel Prize winner and internationally best-selling icon Gabriel Garcia Marquez-remembers his beloved father and mother in this tender memoir about love and loss. "I find myself remembering that my father used to say that everyone has three lives: the public, the private, and the secret." On a weekday morning in March 2014, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century, came down with a cold. In this intimate and honest account on grief and death, Rodrigo Garcia not only contemplates his father's mortality and remarkable humanity, but also his mother's tremendous charm and tenderness. Mercedes Barcha, Gabo's constant companion and creative muse, was one of the foremost influences on his life and art. A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes is a revelatory portrait of a family coping with loss and a rich depiction of a son's love.

The South Downs has throughout history been a focus of English popular culture. With chalkland, their river valleys and scarp-foot the Downs have been shaped for over millennia by successive generations of farmers, ranging from Europe's oldest inhabitants right up until the 21st century. '... possibly the most important book to have been written on the South Downs in the last half-century ... The South Downs have found their perfect biographer.' Downs Country

A quirky collection of true stories from the stranger side of God's Own Country, including vampires, tigers and aliens. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Yorkshire, or as it is sometimes beautifully referred to, God's Own County. Though this isn't the usual side of the county the tourists, travellers and residents see. This is the real Yorkshire, the strange and twisted nooks and crannies of the county's bizarre history - past, present and future. Following on from the bestselling Portico Strangest titles now comes a book devoted to one of England's most beautiful valley regions. Located in the upper body of Britain's old man, Yorkshire is a county with more strangeness than you can shake a Dale walking stick at. Home of Robin Hood (he was born in Barnsdale), Guy Fawkes, Dick Turpin and Dracula (Bram Stoker wrote part of the vampire tale in a Whitby hotel!) and, some say, the birthplace of modern civilization even began in Leeds! But you'll have to read the book to find out why. Yorkshire's Strangest Tales is a treasure trove of the hilarious, the odd and the baffling - an alternative travel guide to some of the county's best-kept secrets. Read on, if you dare! You have been warned.