The Wild Places

Robert Macfarlane asks whether truly wild places still exist in Britain and Ireland. To seek an answer, he travels through remarkable landscapes, climbing, walking, and swimming by day. At night he sleeps on cliff-tops, in ancient meadows, and in wildwoods. His journeys weave together history, memory, and landscape. The book is a travelogue about wildness and why it matters. It explores the archipelago's natural settings and the author's encounters with them, offering readers an account of travel, adventure, and wildness.

Why You Should Read?

• Follow Robert Macfarlane as he asks whether wild places remain in Britain and Ireland.
• Experience his days of climbing, walking, and swimming across the remarkable landscapes of Britain and Ireland.
• Discover how sleeping on cliff-tops, in ancient meadows, and in wildwoods shapes his journeys.
• Understand how history, memory, and landscape entwine to show wildness and its vital importance.

About the Author

Robert Macfarlane was born on 15 August 1976. A British writer of non-fiction, he is also a Fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. His best-known books cover landscape, nature, place, people and language. They include Landmarks (2015), The Old Ways (2012), Underland (2019), The Lost Words (2017) and Is a River Alive? (2025). He often works with musicians, composers and artists. In 2017 he received the E. M. Forster Award for Literature. He is married to Julia Lovell, a professor of modern Chinese history and literature.