In 1949, the 10th Duke of Badminton started Badminton Horse Trials with the idea of better preparing British riders for the Olympic Games after a disastrous showing on home ground the year before. His legacy is the world's oldest and most prestigious horse trials which has captured the imagination of riders from all corners of the globe and in 2024 celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary. Badminton is still an Olympic proving ground - Great Britain are the defending champions in 2024 - as well as the sport's 'Wimbledon', a captivating place where dreams can be made or shattered, and the one all riders want to win. Over seven decades, there have been legendary riders and horses, triumphs and disasters, in a sport that has managed to evolve for the twenty-first-century without losing the spirit in which it was first conceived. The centrepiece remains the cross-country course, a spectacle that draws thousands of spectators and is an imposing challenge for riders, no matter how experienced they are, in an egalitarian sport in which men and women compete on equal terms and the amateur can take on the Olympic gold medallist. This book celebrates those riders, from Sheila Willcox's hat-trick in the 1950s to the feats of horsemanship by New Zealander Mark Todd who came out of retirement to win three decades after his first victory; from the golden era of Richard Meade, Capt. Mark Phillips, Lucinda Green and Princess Anne, to twenty-first-century heroes and heroines, the likes of William Fox-Pitt, Pippa Funnell, Andrew Nicholson, Michael Jung and Oliver Townend. And, of course, the great horses who shared their stories.

Live the romance of the British countryside through this lavish tour of the seasons, landscapes, gardens, and great houses that epitomize British country life, as seen through the eyes of Country Life magazine. For 125 years Country Life has presented its readers with the finest insider’s tour of everything quintessentially British. Now in one volume, this spectacular collection of images offers the best of life in the British countryside, from charming Cotswolds villages to panoramic views across the Yorkshire dales and Glastonbury for readers who will revel in tramping across the heather filled moors to see King Charles’s favorite view in all England, the white cliffs of Dover, and the Dark Hedges of Northern Ireland. Discover on these pages the culture and seasonal activities of country life, whether it be a gentleman farmer showing off his prize cattle, fly fishing in the Scottish highlands, swan upping on the Thames, or cricket on the village green. Country Life is renowned for its unprecedented access to the magnificent castles and palaces, as well as private estates and manor houses that dot the countryside from Dorset to the Scottish highlands, revealing many to its fans for the first time. In this volume readers are treated to the loveliest and most important houses and gardens from the last century, from Holkham Hall, Chatsworth, and Burghley, to Munstead Wood, Sissinghurst, and Kelmscott. This book satisfies readers’ seemingly insatiable desire to capture in their own lives a small slice of the romance of English countryside living.

'Filled with wonderment and awe ... Greene's eloquent memoir is equal parts escape and comfort.' Publishers Weekly A powerful reflection on life in isolation, in pursuit of the dream of Mars. In 2013 Kate Greene moved to Mars. On NASA's first HI-SEAS simulated Mars mission in Hawaii, she lived for four months in an isolated geodesic dome with her crewmates, gaining incredible insight into human behaviour in tight quarters, as well as the nature of boredom, dreams and isolation that arise amidst the promise of scientific progress and glory. Greene draws on her experience to contemplate what makes an astronaut, the challenges of freeze-dried eggs and time-lagged correspondence, the cost of shooting for a Planet B. The result is a story of space and life, of the slippage between dreams and reality, of bodies in space, and of humanity's incredible impulse to explore. From trying out life on Mars, Greene examines what it is to live on Earth. 'In her thoughtful, well-written account of the mission, Greene reflects on what this and other space missions can teach us about ourselves and life on Earth.' Physics Today

Featured in New Scientist's Best Books of 2021 'Filled with wonderment and awe ... Greene's eloquent memoir is equal parts escape and comfort.' Publishers Weekly A powerful reflection on life in isolation, in pursuit of the dream of Mars. In 2013 Kate Greene moved to Mars. On NASA's first HI-SEAS simulated Mars mission in Hawaii, she lived for four months in an isolated geodesic dome with her crewmates, gaining incredible insight into human behaviour in tight quarters, as well as the nature of boredom, dreams and isolation that arise amidst the promise of scientific progress and glory. Greene draws on her experience to contemplate what makes an astronaut, the challenges of freeze-dried eggs and time-lagged correspondence, the cost of shooting for a Planet B. The result is a story of space and life, of the slippage between dreams and reality, of bodies in space, and of humanity's incredible impulse to explore. From trying out life on Mars, Greene examines what it is to live on Earth. 'In her thoughtful, well-written account of the mission, Greene reflects on what this and other space missions can teach us about ourselves and life on Earth.' Physics Today

What if women hold the key to our future?

Meet Morgan Forrester. Spirited and almost wise, she's a counselor and a mother and her life is good. But it isn't right. She aches from the pull of a destiny she senses but can't yet see while ancient fingers, icy and familiar, coil around her spine and a voice whispers that she'll never find her calling.

The Carolina summer sizzles when she hooks up with a Cherokee environmentalist who must stop a nuclear dump and a cranky eccentric searching for her daughter--and their shaky roller coaster lurches forward.

When the enormity of what each woman has determined to do strains against explosive secrets, the pull of lovers and children, their own cross-purposes and the manipulations of a deadly foe, they are nearly derailed. But mysterious allies, sacred women from another time, come to their aid. Vistas open as the trio discovers that their work to reclaim themselves is spiraling outward. If they can stay the course, they could create the matrix that frees women to lead the world toward a more humane future.

Uplifting yet sassy, you could call it "The Saving Graces" meets "The Celestine Prophecy," seasoned with an irreverent dash of "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."