The Highways and Byways of Britain

Highways & Byways

by David Milner (Editor)

Between the end of the 19th century and World War II Macmillan published a much-loved and extremely successful series of books under the title of Highways and Byways. In the series, the authors took readers on a delightful guided tour of the country, county by county, pointing out places of interest, key historical events, and local lore and legend. Now, Macmillan is reissuing—in one beautifully designed volume—a selection of those highways and byways, which affords contemporary readers both a charming period piece and a wonderful glimpse of the very best of Britain.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2008

Reviews

[Steve Chilton]

Should have looked closer before buying! It is an edited compilation of regional accounts written before the Second World War. For those areas that I know well it was interesting to see how things had changed, but obviously less so for other areas. Also, the individual authors approached the task in very different ways, often not really addressing the highways and byways of their chosen area. This made it a very disjointed read.

[Don]

This is a compilation of 36 extracts from the original series of 'Highways and Byways', published between 1897 and 1948. I found it quite hard work, reading only one or two chapters at a time, because a lot of it is written in a rather old fashioned style.

But buried in amongst the ordinary and mundane are a generous number of insights and surprises - mostly about how much the country has changed, or how little.

Worth a try for those who like England, and who like travel guides.