Nick Hayes

The vast majority of our country is entirely unknown to us because we are banned from setting foot on it. By law of trespass, we are excluded from 92 per cent of the land and 97 per cent of its waterways, blocked by walls whose legitimacy is rarely questioned. But behind them lies a story of enclosure, exploitation and dispossession of public rights whose effects last to this day.

The Book of Trespass takes us on a journey over the walls of England, into the thousands of square miles of rivers, woodland, lakes and meadows that are blocked from public access. By trespassing the land of the media magnates, Lords, politicians and private corporations that own England, Nick Hayes argues that the root of social inequality is the uneven distribution of land.

 

The Trespasser's Companion is a rallying cry for greater public access to nature and a gently seditious guide to how to get it: by trespassing. We are excluded from the majority of our land and waterways in England, but bestselling writer Nick Hayes shows how reclaiming our connection to nature would be better both for us, and for nature.

By stepping over the fences that bar us from the countryside, by engaging more deeply with nature through craft, education, and citizen science, we can rediscover not only a land that has been hidden from us for too long, but also reignite our collective responsibility to protect it. Interwoven are testimonials from expert contributors - farmers and landworkers, activists and authors - each with deeply personal stories of what a connection to nature means for them.