ABSTRACT
The purpose of this book has been to consider the countryside in some fresh ways and to explore a variety of its cultures. The context for the study has been located somewhere between the tangential worlds of environmentalism, heritage and art. It has been led by a core collection of case studies from the field of art gallery education, museums, people and organisations, which have attempted to map into this wider history and context, and thus have a relevance beyond the localities for which they were conceived. Inevitably, they are culturally specific, while at the same time they have the potential to operate as examples that can be of use to others working in all kinds of contingent areas. This has been an opportunity to look over the various ways in which the arts and heritage are combining and converging in the countryside with the interests of other disciplines, but also are pursuing quite separate and specialist paths.
