We are delighted to be able to welcome Patrick Galbraith, a unique modern country writer, to join us in the Old Woollen for an evening to talk about his latest publication, Uncommon Ground.

We know that Britain’s land ownership is unbalanced, but what about land access? Who can visit our green and pleasant spaces, who is making use of them and who is taking care of them? Much is made of open access in Scotland, but what is the reality of the policy in practice, and should England and Wales embrace it?

In January 2023 the largest land access demonstration since the 1930s took place on a bright wintery morning on Dartmoor. Those who spearheaded the protest want open access to every acre of rural Britain. They claim that access helps nature by allowing the public to hold landowners and farmers to account and they claim it will have no effect on wildlife. But where does the truth actually lie?

Is access to the countryside quite as restricted as we are led to believe and are all of those farmers, conservationists and landowners who worry about public access simply misguided? Is it time that somebody put them right?

In Uncommon Ground, Patrick Galbraith takes us on an extraordinary tour of rural Britain, from the Western Isles to Dorset, and from the Norman Conquest to the present day, to uncover the truth. Along the way he meets salmon poachers, landowners, foxhunters, and activists calling for a total abolition of the right to own land. And he spends time with politicians, historians and conservationists, many of whom have mixed feelings about the contemporary access campaign. He also, in order to understand our deep-rooted spiritual connections with the land, heads out with naturists, Travellers and magic mushroom pickers.

Presented by Truman Books