• Jane Austen’s plates or the woods near her home? I know which I’d rather save | Martha Gill

    Jane Austen’s plates or the woods near her home? I know which I’d rather save | Martha Gill
    Why this hierarchy of heritage? Our obsession with buildings and artefacts is blinding us to the value of natureI was struck last week by a story about Alton, a town in Hampshire, where residents have hit on a new basis for object to development in the area: Jane Austen sometimes used to walk there from nearby Chawton. The surrounding landscape, a petition reads, is therefore an important part of our literary heritage and must not be built on.On the one hand, this is a story about nimbyism and t

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