hidden europe 15

Squirrel shades

by hidden europe

Summary

Most of Europe has red squirrels. But there are exceptions. In England, squirrels are generally grey - and just occasionally black. We report on the black squirrels of Letchworth.

Letchworth in England is just sixty kilometres north of London. It is a rather special place, for it is the Garden City par excellence. It is the finest realisation of the new designs for urbanism proposed by Ebenezer Howard in his book Garden Cities of Tomorrow. Yet Letchworth is notable on other accounts. You might expect a garden city to be rich in wildlife, and certainly in the early days of the community the city could boast of nightingales and wrynecks that bred in Letchworth.

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The road to Abergwesyn

The tides in the Mawddach estuary never come too early. Nor too late. The rain never beats too hard on the road to Abergwesyn. hidden europe editor Nicky Gardner celebrates the communities in rural Wales where she once lived.

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Of maps and men: Landranger sheet 57

With place names like Pendicles of Collymoon and Nether Easter Offerance, Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 57 fires the imagination. Maps tell stories, as do old men in pubs. Like the Tartan traveller we met in the Tyrol who tried to persuade us that Garibaldi had Scottish ancestry. From Baldy Garrow it is but a short step to Garibaldi.

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Admiralty Handbooks: Baedekers with a Twist

Some of the best academic minds in Britain spent the Second World War writing guidebooks about far-flung places. We explore a clandestine area of professional geographical endeavour which resulted in the Naval Intelligence Guides – often called the Admiralty Handbooks.