The Green Road Into the Trees

Book excerpt: Award-winning writer, traveller and explorer Hugh Thomson travels the drover-paths and tracks of southern England, those half-covered by bramble and tunnelled by alder, beech and oak: the trails that can still be traced by those who know where to look. From the very centre of England -- literally, as his village is said to be the geographical point furthest from the sea -- he travels out to the furthest edges of the land. The Old Road Into The Trees is a journey enlivened and made rich by the characters he meets along the way. Just as in his acclaimed book about Peru, The White Rock, Hugh shows how older, seemingly forgotten cultures, like the Celts, Saxons and Vikings, lie much closer to the surface than we may think; they have created some of the fault lines of land, wealth and privilege that we still live with. By taking a journey through both the sacred and profane landscapes of Ancient England, Hugh casts unexpected light -- and humour -- on the way we live now.