The Natural Beauty of Cornwall by Peter Maxted

According to the description on the cover, this is the “ideal guide to appreciating a landscape of extraordinary variety”. Produced by a long-term Cornish resident and keen explorer (by boat, bike and on foot), the photos are a wonderful mix of agricultural scenes, seascapes, natural phenomena and industrial heritage. They and the text concentrate on the 27{c8c3b3d140ed11cb7662417ff7b2dc686ffa9c2daf0848ac14f76e68f36d0c20} or 370 square miles of Cornwall having AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) status.

There are facts and figures aplenty, references to the past – the Ice Age climate; the present – super-fast broadband; and the future – the need to protect the land and marine environment. Too serious? Not at all. Anecdotes, remarkable facts and the author’s evident joy in his subject combine to make an interesting and useful book.

Verdict: A book to browse through, read in full or use as a holiday guide. Highly recommended for anyone who has visitors to entertain or who wants to find a new favourite place for themselves. A great book for all holiday cottages and a must-read for those, like me, who find it fascinating to discover that Ordovician quartzites (No, I don’t know what they are either) are found along the Roseland coast; when they were formed, Cornwall was apparently just south of the Equator.Fascinating.*****