Jack Thurston, best-selling author of Lost Lanes series and presenter of the internationally acclaimed Bike Show, takes you on a freewheeling tour of the lost lanes and forgotten byways of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire. Enjoy 36 of the best rural rides in the region: Ride on traffic free lanes from the seashore into the heart of the west country. Stunning photography, downloadable GPX, handmade maps. Discover car-free routes through the grand estates of Longleat, Stourhead, Lanhydrock and Ashton Court. Escape to ancient trackways of Wessex's chalk downs, passing the prehistoric remains of Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge. Ride traffic free paths along the River Dart, River Camel and River Exe stopping for river swims and picnics in sun-dappled woodlands. Climb to the windswept heights of Dartmoor and Exmoor and descend beneath the towering crags of Cheddar Gorge.

The English West Country is a land of exceptional landscapes: many miles of wild, unspoilt coastline and vast expanses of wild moorland; great cities such as Exeter, Plymouth, Bath and Bristol; and market towns, villages and hamlets. Farming, mining, quarrying, fishing and trade are the traditional industries of the counties of Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. On one level, the West Country is the most English of all English regions, home of clotted cream, thatch, church spires, folksong, hobby horses and Cecil Sharp. Yet the area was trading with Mediterranean Europe before the Romans. For many years Bristol was the centre of the slave trade, and many of its great mansions were built on the proceeds of slavery. Great swathes of land in Dorset, Wiltshire and Devon are still used by the military and are off-bounds to visitors. And within the West Country is the special case of Celtic Cornwall, and the even more remote Isles of Scilly. People lived in the West Country long before Britain, or England, were invented. From the great stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge in Wiltshire to the menhirs of Cornwall, and the wealth of prehistoric remains on the Isles of Scilly, this has always been an inhabited landscape, crafted by men and women working closely with nature and natural forces. John Payne explores this culturally rich and varied region, revealing many facets of its distinctive and much-loved identity.

Jack Thurston, presenter of the 'Bike Show', takes you on a freewheeling tour of the lost lanes and forgotten byways of southern England.

This volume examines the effects of rural depopulation as a process on the structure of family and kinship within one small rural area, analysing the spatial relationships of social and economic change. Part One documents these relationships in the context of family farming; the second part is largely devoted to the effects of demographic change on the structure of family and kinship within one small community.

Jack Thurston, best-selling author of the Lost Lanes series (50,000 sold) and presenter of the Bike Show, takes you on a freewheeling tour of the lost lanes and forgotten byways of Northern England - Yorkshire, Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland and Lancashire. Ride sections of the legendary Tour de Yorkshire, discovering castles and forts. Ride traffic free paths along the River Wharfe and Swale stopping for river swims and picnics in sun-dappled woodlands. Climb to the windswept heights of the Yorkshire Dales and Pennines. Discover car-free routes through the grand forests of Northumberland and Bowland. Including beautiful photography, this is the perfect gift for the armchair traveller and cycling adventurer. With downloadable GPX and route guides, and detailed maps, it is highly practical too. Rides graded from easy to challenging, with best pubs and tea stops, wild swims, finest viewpoints and accommodation too.

A complete guide to incorporating cycling into your life and making the most of the many benefits to health, fitness and yes, happiness that it can give you.