​
For some, their favourite place is high up. They like to climb "because it is there" or for some other reason.
​
-
Mountain Landscapes
One of the authors who has shaped my ideas on place, and our relationship with it, is Robert MacFarlane. He has published a series of books, including 'The Wild Places', 'Landmarks' and 'The Old Ways'.
His first book was called 'Mountains of the Mind'
​
Other mountain books including Fergus Fleming's book on mountains.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
-
The Fens
​
The Fens are a distinctive landscape, and one that I have explored with and without students for many years, as I work in them, and travel through them each day during term time.
They are, of course, a landscape that bears the fingerprint of human activity and intervention. Drainage works, funded by the local landowner, and carried out by Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden, have resulted in a network of drainage channels and sluices.
Nant Ffrancon Valley - Image: Alan Parkinson