The Lie of the Land : How a Tiny Group of Landowners Wrecked the Countryside, and How the Public Can Restore it

Author: Shrubsole, Guy

United Kingdom, Great Britain

Published on 8 May 2025 by HarperCollins Publishers (William Collins) in the United Kingdom.

*A WATERSTONES AND GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2024*

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WESTMINSTER BOOK AWARDS*

'Both dynamite and medicine' AMY-JANE BEER

'It couldn't be more relevant' JAMES O'BRIEN

'Timely and rousing'

THE TIMES

The lie of the land: that Britain’s landowners care for the countryside.

Our landowning elite are paid billions of taxpayer pounds to be good stewards. But these same landowners have carelessly trampled over our best-loved landscapes, leaving the rivers polluted, fenlands drained, and moorlands burned.

Guy Shrubsole has travelled across Britain to expose the lie and meet the communities fighting back to restore our lost landscapes. This is a bold, shared vision for our nation’s wild places, and how we can treat them with the awe and care they deserve.