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Chargement... Hedge Britannia: A Curious History of a British Obsessionpar Hugh Barker
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. One of classic quirky books that the British do best. Part gardening book, part history, part social history and written by a slightly mad author ( ) Hedgerows still outline the shape of rural Britain, although coppicing - training trees and bushes into hedges - is becoming a very rare skill and new hedges tend to be of a single variety bush rather than a variety of trees, bushes and plants. Ancient hedgerows define history, some go back to the Enclosure Acts of the 16thC when the land surrounding villages was considered common land for farming and grazing animals. You can see where the ordinary people were dispossessed of their rights and their land was deeded to the nobles and those with influence. But politics aside, hedges are an ecological niche for many plants and animals. Hedges are also good for annoying the neighbours. Untrimmed ones, ones that drop leaf litter, thorny ones, too-high ones. The ideal weapon for the passive aggressive person who has a grudge against the person next door! Of course, if that neighbour is more aggressive than passive, it can end up in court and then the hedge is doomed to be trimmed and costs will have to be paid. But still, that will be years away, and you can always start again. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Hedge Britannia is a portrait of the nation unlike any other. It is a tale of how agricultural and gardening traditions came to the British Isles, and of how our ideas of territory, neighbours and boundaries came to define town and country alike. Over the centuries we have proved ourselves to be a nation of ardent hedge-growers and this has shaped the landscape we know today. From rolling acres to suburban plots, nothing would be quite the same if the hedge had not made its appearance. It was the arrival of hedges that turned the forests and open pastures of our ancestors into a land of segregated fields, twisting hedgerows, enclosed gardens and, eventually, over-the-top topiary, decorative borders and controversial leylandii. Hugh Barker, a hedge enthusiast, has journeyed across Britain to explore its remarkable variety of gardens and hedgerows. Over the course of his travels he discovers how hedges are among our most ancient monuments, meets hedgelaying champions and topiary fanatics, and sees the lengths to which some people will go to annoy the neighbours. Along the way he tells how a connection between paradise and the garden hedge grew up, why the British Army planted a barrier hedge hundreds of miles long in India, and how the notorious enclosures during the Industrial Revolution turned the country upside-down. Informative, revealing, anecdotal and just a little eccentric, this is a sweeping history of Britain as you've never seen it before. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)635.9760941Technology Agriculture & related technologies Domestic Gardening Flowers and ornamental plants Other groupings Shrubs and hedgesClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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