nickshanagher

Hugh Thomson's The Green Road Into The Trees is a remarkable book about his journey across England from Dorset to Norfolk. Tracing loosely an ancient road, The Ickneild Way, Thomson uncovers the hidden local histories of England and the changes to the way we live. He celebrates life. He writes about highs and lows, geographical and human. About law making and lawlessness. For retailers seeking to be at the heart of their communities this is a manual on what belonging is about. The rural memory, he notes, is both very short and very long. This following observation within a conversation with countryman David Hughes in Oxfordshire is typical of the quality of Thomson's thought and writing. "Over his cup of tea and morning cigarello, David talks about the changes he has seen in the countryside. He think it's too easy to make the usual assumptions about how 'it's all commuters now and the heart has gone out of the villages'. That needs to be qualified ...