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From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain comes a fierce expose of how private landowners wreck the countryside, and how the public can restore it
Britain's landowners, we are told, are the rightful stewards of the countryside. They care for the land, they nurture it for future generations and for the good of all. But this is not true. In The Lie of the Land, Guy Shrubsole shows that a handful of large landowners are responsible for the destruction and degradation of many of our most important landscapes. This book paints a vivid picture of some of the most dramatic failures of land stewardship in Britain's recent history. But it also tells the story of the people trying to pick up the pieces – the small-scale farmers, community groups and members of the public who may not own land, but who nevertheless seek to be its custodians.
The time has come to shed our deference to landowners and demand that they live up to their ideals of stewardship – or forfeit the right to own land. In overturning the 'lie of the land', Shrubsole shows that we can all become custodians of the countryside once again.
Guy Shrubsole was formerly a campaigner and an investigator for Friends of the Earth. As a writer, he has written widely for publications including the Guardian and New Statesman. His previous book, Who Owns England?, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller.
"[...] a scorching explanation of how ecosystems are being brutalised by archaic structures of land and property management in Britain [...] It's a litany of policy failures and warped priorities, replete with genuinely jaw-dropping examples of perverse incentives, bold claims and closed-door deals. [...] a book bristling with energy and ideas."
– Martha Dillon, Resurgence & Ecologist 347, November/December 2024
"A fascinating exposé"
–The i
"Compelling [...] a timely and important book"
– Geographical Magazine
"Exhilarating, insightful and bristling with rightful indignation"
– Lee Schofield
"The unjust impositions of historic land ownership blight all our lives – here Guy shows why"
– Chris Packham
"What a book! Vitally important, and superbly written"
– Aaron Bastani
"Shrubsole has the belly fire of a campaigner but the precision of an historian"
–Roger Mortlock, Chief Executive of CPRE
"A heartfelt, historically resonant call to reject the myth that private landownership delivers good stewardship of nature"
– Corinne Fowler
"A smart, peaceful and practical plan for how we can turn this land into our land"
– Patrick Barkham
"If you care about our environment, read this book"
– Sir John Lawton CBE FRS
"This book beautifully subverts the central orthodoxy of England, that owning land is the only way to care for it"
– Nick Hayes
"This is Guy Shrubsole's best book yet"
– Mark Avery
"Guy Shrubsole asserts the right of the majority to engage in what happens to land. As England struggles with its post-Brexit identity, the lie of the land matters deeply"
– Tim Lang
"At once shocking and comforting, scathing and uplifting. A book on this subject shouldn't be so readable. A triumph"
– Sophie Pavelle
"Who really cares for the countryside? Guy does. His articulate fervour, seasoned with humour, shouts from every page. He throws down a timely gauntlet to centuries of tradition"
– Tom Heap
"Extraordinary. An affirmation of another kind of rural life that exists within this lie, and all the possibilities that are open to us if we defy it"
– Nicola Chester
"A rousing call to action that proposes practical interventions for how management of the countryside could – and should – be improved for the benefit of both people and environment"
– Claire Ratinon
"Radical and urgent, measured and considered [...] an essential place to start"
– Dr Rose O'Neill, Chief Executive, Campaign for National Parks
