The English Path - Paperback

by Kim Taplin (Author), Mary-Ann Ochota (Introduction by)

Until the twentieth century most country dwellers made their short journeys on foot, via footpaths and bridleways which connected villages, and took people to neighbouring villages, to church, to market, to their places of work. In The English Path Kim Taplin (1943-2024) explores the way that poets and writers, from Jane Austen to Iain Sinclair, have written about these vital routes, which sustained rural life for centuries, and which were also powerful visions of arriving and leaving, but are today under constant threat.

Our new edition, the most recent addition to the Nature Classics series, has an introduction by the writer and broadcaster Mary-Ann Ochota, and a foreword by Phoebe Taplin, Kim's daughter.

Author Biography

Kim Taplin (1943-2024) was a poet and writer, whose first book was The English Path, originally published in 1979. She was also a teacher and a peace campaigner, who protested at Greenham Common in the 1980s. Mary-Ann Ochota is a broadcaster and writer, the author of books including Hidden Histories and Secret Britain.