"Look at it this way"

If students are going to be asked to write about the landscape, they should also be reading widely about the landscape, and the various influences that combine to create it. One of the authors I've read (and re-read) quite a lot recently is Richard Mabey . He now has a website, with links through to books and other resources. Worth checking out.

For the last few months we've been working with the amazing folks at the John Muir Trust to put together a booklet of missions which marries the Mission:Explore style of missions to the aims of the trust, which are to encourage young people to experience the landscape, and care for wild places. John Muir was the father figure of nature conservation, and quotes from him have been included to connect the missions with some of the ideas that he had over a century ago. The resource is part of the celebrations for the Year of Natural Scotland, 2013 You can get to see the missions on this GRAPHICLY page.  It will be available in other locations shortly, and I'll add the links to those as they emerge. Here's a slide that I've used in many of my presentations... Get out and about this Easter... and don't forget to take the opportunity to Mission:Explore...

I've been creating a GeoLibrary this year, with 365 books to be placed on the virtual shelves of the library. Quite a few of them are related to landscape, which is not surprising given my interests. One book that I have just added to the shelves is an important one for anyone teaching about the landscape (which should be everyone of course) This is a classic book , and has been published in a number of different editions over the years. It was written in the 1980s. It explains how the British countryside came about, through a range of processes which in some cases date back hundreds (or even thousands) of years. This edition is an illustrated version / adaptation which adds some really useful extra images to the text. The book is framed around a series of walks, which take the walker through some of the processes which shaped the landscape. One of them is at Holme-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, and I have walked that route many times. There is plenty here on vernacular geo

This is the first of what will be a number of posts through this year on the subject of Everest. It is 60 years this year since Hillary and Tenzing reached the summit. Earlier this week, I was at Shrewsbury School , and mentioned my interest in the possibility that it was Mallory and Irvine who first reached the summit in the 1920s. It turns out the Irvine was involved with the school, and they have a range of items, including letters, photographs, and even Irvine's ice axe, which was found on the slopes of Everest in 1933. There are various exhibitions of photographs coming out this year too, including one at the OXO building in London, which I shall try to get to when I am in London and nearby, which will be several times this year I imagine... Good for Mountain Landscapes , which features in Lessons 9 and 10 of the toolkit book, which is still available to buy of course... More on Everest over the next few months....