Publications

Books, Pamphlets, Newsletters and Advice Notes

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To order by post, please CONTACT US FOR POSTAGE COSTS on +44(0)1747 850820, and send a cheque (payable to Common Ground) to:
Common Ground, Gold Hill House, 21 High Street, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 8JE


New! The Community Orchards Handbook - Drawing on twenty years of championing orchards and the experiences of many people who have created Community Orchards, The Handbook offers philosophy and practical advice to those inspired to become Community Orchardists.

A5 spiral bound, 226 pp. Chapters include: Orchards and Local Distinctiveness, What are Community Orchards? The place of orchards in our landscape and culture, How to start, Planting a Community orchard, Adopting an old orchard, Conserving and attracting wildlife, What to do with the harvest, Celebration, Safeguarding your orchard, Orchard fruits and wild fruits; Appendices include: Choosing the right legal structure for your Community Orchard, Model Constitution, Draft Tenancy Agreement, Orchard groups and support organisations, National contacts, Nurseries and equipment, Fruit identification, Funding ideas and sources, Bibliography. Illustrations; 90 colour photos by Common Ground and Community Orchardists, illustrations by Brian Grimwood and Charles Raymond.

Written by Angela King & Sue Clifford with additional material from Gail Vines and Tamara Essex, research by Kate O’Farrell.

CLICK HERE TO BUY A COPY


The Apple Source Book - a celebration of nearly 3,000 varieties of apple we can grow in these islands, with their distinctive flavours, uses, places of origin, stories and associated customs.

Recipes from 52 chefs, food writers and gardeners are complemented by a wealth of useful information about apple identification, orchards, wild life, specialist nurseries, suppliers of fruit, blossom routes, Community Orchards as well as ideas for Apple Day, wassailing, juice pressing, cider making and a 40 page county by county gazetteer of where varieties originated.

Taking the apple as a symbol of the physical, cultural and genetic diversity that we should not let slip away, The Apple Source Book demonstrates how anyone can make a difference. READ MORE ...

This book is not available directly from us, but can easily be bought
from your local bookshop and from Amazon


England In Particular - Written by Common Ground, England in Particular (published by Hodder & Stoughton) covers nearly 600 subjects from alleys, allotments and apples to warrens, white horses, yew and zawns. It is a counterblast against loss and uniformity, and a celebration of just some of the distinctive details that cumulatively make England.

England in Particular is about a way of looking, cherishing detail, patina, the commonplace and the particular. These webpages are intended to help us to stand up for the habitats, creatures, buildings we value, our local culture and identity. READ MORE ...

This book is not available directly from us, but can easily be bought
from your local bookshop and from Amazon


Some of our most popular books include ...

Apple Games
and Customs

This book will help you sip from a huge wassail bowl of games, customs, sayings and stories which remind us of the importance and meaning which the apple has in our culture.

READ MORE
and BUY A COPY

The Common Ground
Book of Orchards:
Conservation, Culture
and Community

This unique and sumptuous book celebrates orchards as our best relations with nature.

READ MORE
and BUY A COPY

from place to PLACE: maps and Parish Maps
Writings about maps and places. Sets the scene for an idea which challenges communities to explore, express and care for the things they value in their every-day places.

READ MORE
and BUY A COPY

The River's Voice
Trees Be Company
Field Days
Three anthologies of poetry compiled by Angela King & Sue Clifford

READ MORE
and BUY A COPY

Items for sale

ABC - learning to read your locality, A3 folded leaflet in colour about how to gather information, get a poster printed and how to use the ABC to set local agendas. Read more on Common Ground's "England in Particular" web-site, www.england-in-particular.info.

Single copy 10p (25p non-UK)

10 copies for £1.00 (£2.50 non-UK)


Apple Day Leaflet - what is Apple Day? Why celebrate it, when, where and how? A handy A4 folded leaflet explaining the background to this annual custom, held on October 21st each year, with ideas of things you might do to celebrate it.

 

Single copy 10p (25p non-UK)

10 copies for £1.00 (£2.50 non-UK)


The Apple Broadcast, a 16 page newspaper, with many photographs, about local Save our Orchards and Apple Day projects, giving examples of county initiatives, orchard conservation, community orchards and Apple Day celebrations.

£3.00 (£4.00 non-UK)


Apple Games and Customs, Common Ground, reprinted for 2005. A6, 121pp. This book will help you sip from a huge wassail bowl of games, customs, sayings and stories which remind us of the importance and meaning which the apple has in our culture.

£5.95 (£6.95 non-UK)


The Art of Gentle Gardening, A5. 24 pages. with colour illustrations. Many ideas on how we can link plants, people and place, reweaving culture and nature to reinforce local distinctiveness.

£2.50 (£3.50 non-UK)


Celebrating Local Distinctiveness, Common Ground for Rural Action, 1994. Gives examples of how local people are reinforcing local identity, many are Common Ground projects. A fascinating gathering of environmental action and arts in rural areas that are both persuasive and practical.

£3.00 (£4.00 non-UK)


The Common Ground Book of Orchards: Conservation, Culture and Community - This unique and sumptuous book celebrates orchards as our best relations with nature. It explores how orchards continue to shape local culture from custom to kitchen and urges us to value old orchards of tall trees for their delicate ecology and local distinctiveness. Scores of examples demonstrate how, in town and country, Community Orchards provide wholesome food, wild life havens, arenas for communal celebration and inspirational places where the development of orcharding knowledge across generations and ethnicity can flourish. The result of more than a dozen years of campaigning, this book presents a positive survival plan for orchards in which everyone can take part.

Available from bookshops (distributed by: Worldly Goods tel: +44(0)117 9420165) or direct from Common Ground.

£18.95 (£26.00 non-UK)


Community Orchards, 1/3 A4, 16 pages with b/w photographs. Offers ways of saving old orchards and opportunities to plant new ones for the enjoyment of the community, as a reservoir for local varieties of fruit and a refuge for wild life.

£1.00 (£2.00 non-UK)


Community Orchards Handbook , A5 spiral bound, 226 pp. Drawing on twenty years of championing orchards and the experiences of many people who have created Community Orchards, The Handbook offers philosophy and practical advice to those inspired to become Community Orchardists. READ MORE HERE.

£10.00 (£12.00 non-UK)


Confluence News was the newsletter of Common Ground's pioneering project on the River Stour, to encourage an awareness of water conservation through music making activities. Back issues of all 13 are available (contact us if you require specific individual issues, +44(0)1747 850820 or email info [at] commonground.org.uk).

£5.00 for the set (£8.00 non-UK)


Field Days: Ideas for Investigations and Celebrations is packed with a wide range of suggestions ideas and examples to encourage Field Day activities from surveys to picnics - promoting a greater awareness of the importance of fields and active local participation in their future. A5. 32 pages with illustrations by leading artists.

£3.50 (£4.50 non-UK)

Field Days 1 - Fields: their names and potential for celebration, A4 x 4 pages.

50p (50p non-UK)

FieldDays 2 - Ideas for Owning and Leasing Fields for Community Use, A4 x 4 pages.

50p (50p non-UK)


Field Days poetry anthology. Field Days - an anthology of poetry, edited by Common Ground, published in the UK by Green Books, 1998, is a collection of works about fields by poets, such as Wendell Berry, Ivor Gurney, Seamus Heaney, Thomas Hardy and Denise Levertov. Read More on our FIELDS PAGES .

Also available in a boxed set with The River's Voice and Trees Be Company.

Within Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia please order from Common Ground.

£8.95 (£12.95 non-UK)

In North America it is published by Chelsea Green. Cick here for more information.


from place to PLACE: maps and Parish Maps Writings about maps and places. Sets the scene for an idea which challenges communities to explore, express and care for the things they value in their every-day places. Writers including Barbara Bender, Robin Grove-White, Simon Lewty, Richard Mabey, Adam Nicolson, Tim Robinson and Brian Friel are joined by people describing their experiences of Parish Mapping. Common Ground. 1996.

Includes Parish Maps (costs £2.50 when sold seperately).

£10.00 (£12.00 non-UK)


Granite Song: Sculpture and Local Distinctiveness - a fully illustrated profile of Peter Randall-Page's North Devon sculptures, with photos by Chris Chapman and essays by Marina Warner, Jane Hayter-Hames, Eric Robinson, Sue Clifford and Angela King. This book describes a new way of working and thinking about the role of sculpture and its contribution to our everyday places. In her essay, Marina Warner says: "With tact and discretion, Common Ground have renegotiated the tricky territory of public art, and developed a fresh approach, which does not make bombastic declarations about History or Heroism, but adds quietly to the tally of selected points of personal orientation". The book was designed and produced by Clive, Jill and Tom Adams and printed by Pale Green Press. It is published in hard and softcover by Devon Books. 95pp with over 60 photographs in colour and b&w.
ISBN 1 85522 685 5.

£24.95 (£27.95 non-UK)


In a Nutshell: a manifesto for trees and a guide to growing and protecting them, Common Ground, 1989. Trees are the key to our survival. They came before us and we have used, abused and loved them for thousands of years. They have provided food, shelter, medicine and the air we breathe. This book is full of practical suggestions for growing and caring for trees in your street, garden, school and parish.

£6.95 (£8.95 non-UK)


Local Distinctiveness: Place, Particularity and Identity, Essays for a conference, including papers by: Richard Mabey, Gillian Darley, Neal Ascherson. Patrick Wright. Michael Dower and Roger Deakin. Common Ground, 1993.

£5.95 (£7.95 non-UK)


Local Flora Britannica, A5. 32 pages, with full colour illustrations. Ideas and examples of how to invite wild flowers and trees back into our social calendar and personal affections, helping everyone to take an active and meaningful part in nature conservation at the local level.

£3.50 (£4.50 non-UK)


A Manifesto for Fields, makes 41 arguments for fairer fields. It calls on farmers and land holders to farm HOLISTICALLY, working with nature, culture and locality. It asks that support for agriculture should only be given if it produces wholesome food. reflects and reinforces the cultural importance of fields, improves conditions for farmworkers and benefits society, the welfare of livestock, nature and the land. A5. 24 pages with illustrations by leading artists.

£3.50 (£4.50 non-UK)


New Milestones: Sculpture, Community and the Land, The New Milestones Project encourages a new generation of town and countryside sculptures. It has stimulated small works of imagination which express our sense of history, our love of place and the natural world. This book shows how small groups can commission sculpture and suggests a new and exciting way for drawing people closer to their place andthe arts. Common Ground, 1988.

£4.95 (£6.95 non-UK)


Orchards Advice Notes, A4 information sheets on the following subjects:

1.Specialist Nurseries, 50p (50p non-UK)

2. Suppliers of Fruit, 50p (50p non-UK)

3. List of Relevant Grants, 50p (50p non-UK)

4. Suggested Reading, 50p (50p non-UK)

5. Selecting & Planting Standard Trees, 50p (00p non-UK)

6. Useful Contacts, 50p (50p non-UK)

7. Wassailing Apple Orchards, 50p (50p non-UK)

8. Plant Pears for your Heirs (Millennium Orchards), Not Currently Available

9. Gazetteer of Local Varieties, 50p (50p non-UK)

10. Community Orchards as Local Nature Reserves, 50p (50p non-UK)

11. Fruit Identification, 50p (50p non-UK)

12. Arts & Crafts in Orchards, 50p (50p non-UK)

13. Small Scale Apple Juice Pressing, 50p (50p non-UK)

14. Small Scale Cidermaking, 50p (50p non-UK)

15. Infant Fruit Tree Care, the First Five Years, 50p (50p non-UK)

16. Orchard Groups, Not Currently Available

17. Basic Apple Tree Pruning, 50p (50p non-UK)

18. Apple Day Ideas, 50p (50p non-UK)

19. Orchard Moths & Butterflies, 50p (50p non-UK)

20. Nature Notes, 50p (50p non-UK)

21. Traditional Orchards & the Planning System, 50p (50p non-UK)

22. Deadwood Invertebrates in Old Orchards, 50p (50p non-UK)

23. School Orchards, 50p (50p non-UK)

Complete Set, £10.50 (10.50p non-UK)


Orchards and Wild Life, papers given at a conference organised by Common Ground with English Nature in 1999 covering topics including Orchards and Culture, Cobnuts and wild life, Invertebrate Biodiversity, Mistletoe. A4

£5.00 (£6.00 non-UK)


Parish Maps, A5, 24 pages on why and how to make a Parish Map, descriptions and full colour illustrations of some of the maps which have already been made.

This booklet is included in from place to PLACE: maps and Parish Maps.

£2.50 (£3.50 non-UK)

Parish Maps Leaflet

Single copy - 10p (25p non-UK)