GCLP Talks and Events 2021: Brian Kerr – The Bedfordshire Countryside: Past, Present and Future (Zoom / free event)

Wednesday 14th July 2021 19:30 - 20:30

Greensand Country Landscape Partnership are very pleased to welcome back Brian Kerr as part of the Talks and Events programme for 2021.

The Bedfordshire Countryside:  Past, Present and Future

The countryside in Bedfordshire, as in all lowland England, is changing rapidly and this presentation explores the distinctive nature of the local landscape and explains something of the historical background.  Past events such as the development of religious settlements along the Greensand Ridge and the legacy of parklands in Bedfordshire are discussed, before a move to the present-day use of countryside. Finally, there is speculative look to the future with an attempt to spot emerging trends in the use of land in the county.   The talk is illustrated by a variety of landscape images.

Brian Kerr trained as a soil scientist and has spent most of his career working and writing on landscape and agricultural topics both in the British Isles and overseas.  Now based in Ampthill he has taken an interest in countryside issues in Bedfordshire and in 2014 published An Unassuming County:  The Making of the Bedfordshire Countryside a book on the county which traces the history of the modern landscape.  Brian’s book A Certain Degree of Magnificence:  People in the Bedfordshire Landscape was published in 2018. Brian’s most recent book How to Value a Skylark: The Countryside in a Time of Change was published this year.

For more information and to book your free place, please email Community Arts Officer, Sally Christopher at sallyc@greensandcountry.com