Originally published in 1987, this book rejects the ‘pay through the nose’ approach to conservation enshrined in the Wildlife and Countryside Act, and demonstrates the need to strengthen and extend the national parks system to enable more people to enjoy open country. The authors believe that countryside conservation depends on reversing the trends that are intensifying the exploitation of land and natural resources and displacing people. They argue for conservation of landscape and resources to be made an integral part of social and economic development, and of government policy for town and country. They see the national parks not as specially protected oases but as experiments in integrated land management that could provide useful ‘greenprints’ for the harmonious management of the wider countryside.