Graham Robb has elsewhere written well on the independent cultural histories of La France Profonde, but in The Debatable Land he explores the history of "the lost world between Scotland and England". He is again travelling by bicycle, and with intelligence and charm reminds us that the border region was once an independent territory, the scene of many battles and fought over by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James V. Robb conveys the remoteness of the region, which can still be felt along the coast and in the border hills, and ends with fascinating discoveries regarding the veracity of early maps of the region and contemporary accounts of battles.
Finally, just out is James Rebanks' English Pastoral: An Inheritance. In this follow-up to the best-selling This Shepherd's Life, I really think this sheep farmer has written a future classic. This is because he writes from hard-earned experience of working the land, at a time when old ways are under threat from modern farming technology and practices. His lake district farm has been run by his family for generations and has always been embedded within the natural landscape in such a way that hedgerows teemed with life and a balance with nature was accommodated. Times have changed and the author mourns various losses, from a broader farming community to birdsong. As with Isabella Tree's equally hopeful Wilding however, Rebanks records how he is in the process of preserving much of the old ways of doing things, and so providing a model for how thoughtful farming practices can afford a lifeline to those numerous species currently endangered by more industrially-edged approaches to farming.