Countryside

Over a hundred years ago, the National Trust was founded to preserve places of historic interest or natural beauty in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Today it protects through ownership, management and covenants around 252,000 hectares (623,000 acres) of land. The variety is unmatched - from the fells and lakes of Cumbria to the wilderness wetlands of Wicken Fen in East Anglia. This collection reveals not just natural beauty, but how the human hand has shaped the landscape over the centuries. At Croome Park in Herefordshire, the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century landscape gardeners fashioned the parkland to contemporary tastes. Former coal-blackened industrial sites, such as Horden on the Durham coast, are now teeming with wildlife. These photographs celebrate this diversity and encourage the preservation of our unique countryside for future generations. Three leading British landscape photographers have contributed to this collection in a celebration not just of the countryside but of the photographer's art. A series of unforgettable images pay tribute to their patience - from misty early mornings in the Lake District, to sunset-kissed landscapes in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire. This exquisite collection of photographs captures the true beauty of Britain's countryside.