In Cross Country photographer and author Peter Ashley unleashes his passion for Blighty. He takes us on an enlightening jaunt that encompasses many of England’s most loved regions. His love of buildings and landscape extends far beyond architecture in picturesque surroundings. By combining personal reminiscence and an ear for intriguing anecdote, he shows us with wit, and sometimes irreverent comment, just how richly varied the fabric of England is: abandoned Cornish tin mines above tide-washed caves; Norfolk boat sheds leaning on salt marches; Romney Marsh shepherd’s houses disappearing behind roadside willows; and hedges looked over in Wiltshire. Local details are found in both Essex estuaries and Cumbrian sand dunes; and long abandoned railway lines are once again pressed into service to take us around his beloved High Leicestershire. Ashley never misses the curious and neglected – be it a sheep wash in the Cotswolds or a disused petrol pump in Herefordshire. He travels deep into t eh countryside he cares about. His wry observations allow us to rediscover and delight in what many of us might previously have deemed familiar territory.

Cross Country: English Buildings and Landscape From Countryside to Coast

Arts & Photography

ASHLEY, Peter

Architecture

wiley

A celebration of some of Britain’s most loved and familiar buildings, Built for Britain revels in structures as diverse as the awe-inspiring Clifton Suspension Bridge over the Avon Gorge in Bristol and a humble row of beach huts on a Norfolk shore. 
From iconic landmarks to isolated lighthouses, these are often unsung monuments to little-recognised talent and engineering achievement. Many of them are beloved structures in the local landscape, whether it is the Blackpool Tower, Ally Pally, the towering concrete chimneys of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in Nottingham-shire, or the captivating spectacle of the Post Office Tower. Continually rearing their outlines or silhouettes up into our collective consciousness, these buildings have in many cases not received the proper attention they so richly deserve. Through their very familiarity and often eye-catching forms, all of these structures, though, are guaranteed to engage and intrigue.

Built for Britain: Bridges to Beach Huts

A seagull swoops across a packet of Senior Service, a seaman from HMS Hero poses in a lifebelt cameo on twenty Player's, a laughing cavalier puffs away at a Passing Cloud. And a Jeeves-style butler offers us a Kensitas on a silver tray. Welcome to the vanished world of cigarette pack art. Peter Ashley has delved into his own and other collections of packs to show us what an incredible art gallery of design they once offered, and creates a series of still lifes to show how much a part of daily life they were - Gold Flakes on a picnic, Park Drive on a workbench. He finds the stories to go with them too: the influence of Du Mauriers on a crooked tycoon, the Battle of Britain pilots throwing packets of Weights after free-falling Messerschmitts. And of course the packets dropped into literature: Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, John Betjeman, Will Self - all have contributed to cigarette culture without disapproving shakes of the head. The Cigarette Papers is a joyful, witty and ultimately beautiful recollection of old friends who will probably never be seen again.

The Cigarette Papers: A Eulogy for the Cigarette Packet in Anecdote and Literature

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Frances Lincoln

Eighteenth-century eye-catchers, nineteenth-century ego boosters, twentieth- century communicators, towers continually rise up into our collective consciousness. They are the landmarks of our journeys, the map pins of our personal geographies; always looked-out for, always in the corner of the eye. Preposterous Erections brings together sixty uniquely fascinating towers from all corners of England. From the parkland Brizlee Tower in Northumberland to the coastal Stepper Point in Cornwall, Peter Ashley tells us their stories through his own very individual photographs and his witty and irreverent commentary. Although there is an obvious core of eighteenth and nineteenth-century landowner's eccentricities, the more recent past is not forgotten, including the instantly recognisable Post Office tower in London's Fitzrovia and the more retiring Lewis's department store art deco tower in Leicester. Monument or observatory, watch tower or water tower, these are sixty of the very best. Preposterous Erections will arouse the interest of even the most casual observer.

Preposterous erections: a book of English towers

"Heat Resistant" is a long-term study of transformational leadership featuring a Fire Chief. His life lessons and leadership strategies have stood the test of time and provide the reader with effective leadership techniques that cross industries.

Heat Resistant: How to Fireproof Your Leadership

Business & Money

Management & Leadership

BookBaby

Cross Country: English Buildings and Landscape from Countryside to Coast

* A nostalgic three-book series celebrating a slower, old-fashioned way of life* Vintage train memorabilia from across Britain* Dedicated to a cultural staple in British industrial history: the trainAs the world speeds up, as technology takes over, it is worth remembering how we used to live. This three-book series is a nostalgic hymn to an era when life was slower: a meandering ramble through the British countryside by bicycle, automobile and train.Take an amble across the countryside with this book, which celebrates a time when our railway network was more than a permanently delayed omnishambles of overcrowded and overpriced trains. Country stations and lonely halts, milk churns and coal yards, enamelled signs and platform clocks - these are the fragments of a more leisured age, from a time when the local station was a well-loved institution at the heart of so many communities. Here are gas-lit rural stations, oil lamps on level crossing gates, enamelled signs, waiting room fires, timetables and luggage labels. Less a clattering, steamy ride into the past than a touchstone for joyous memories of such a vital and well-loved institution, The Slow Train harks back to a more measured, considered era. Also available:The Bicycle ISBN 978178884094The Open Road ISBN 9781788840927

The Slow Train

Individual Artists

Acc Art Books

* A nostalgic three-book series celebrating a slower, old-fashioned way of life* Vintage automobile memorabilia from across Britain* A delightful gift for car enthusiasts and memorabilia collectorsAs the world speeds up, as technology takes over, it is worth remembering how we used to live. This three-book series is a nostalgic hymn to an era when life was slower: a meandering ramble through the British countryside by bicycle, automobile and train.This evocative volume gathers British motoring memorabilia, transporting us back to a time when roads were filled with bulbous Austin Somersets, humpbacked Standard Vanguards and unique road signs. Between cigarette cards advocating road safety, vintage motoring maps and black-and-white photos of classic cars in their prime, The Open Road packs an impressive cache of paraphernalia between its pages. A quaint, inspirational collection with delightful images at every turn of the road. No Sat Nav here.Also available:The Slow Train ISBN 9781788840927The Bicycle ISBN 9781788840941

The Open Road: A Miscellany on the Open Road

* A nostalgic three-book series celebrating a slower, old-fashioned way of life* Vintage cycling memorabilia from across Britain* Commemorates the bicycle's place in history* The perfect gift for anyone who loves cycling and bike cultureAs the world speeds up, as technology takes over, it is worth remembering how we used to live. This three-book series is a nostalgic hymn to an era when life was slower: a meandering ramble through the British countryside by bicycle, automobile and train.Squeeze the brakes, sit back and coast downhill with this irreverent collection of cycling memorabilia. The Bicycle is packed with pictures, fun facts, and light-hearted commentary, gathering photographs of vintage bikes, John Bull puncture repair kits, and misspelled signs rejecting the rights of 'Bycicles' to be locked to railings. Crossing the country from Cumbria to Cambridge, this quaint, pocket-sized manual is a compendium of all things two-wheeled.Also available:The Open Road ISBN 9781788840934The Slow Train ISBN 9781788840927

The Bicycle: A Miscellany on Two Wheels

Engineering & Transportation

Transportation

Takes a railway tour of England, looking at everything from stations to level crossing, signal boxes to signage.

Whistle Stops: Railway Architecture (English Heritage Pocket Books)

Photography & Video

English Heritage

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Books by ASHLEY, Peter