ABSTRACT

This chapter explores some important elements of human change in the English countryside during the twentieth century. The themes which have come through are those of growth and dynamism, of invasions of people, and of critical social conflicts. For some these changes have apparently brought an end to what they perceive to have been a rural idyll. Recreation enterprises on farms are now positively encouraged as one possible solution to an economic crisis. This can only mean that Dower's Fourth Wave is still breaking and the countryside will more and more become an urban playground as well as a food factory. The residential population of rural areas has increased; there has been another major invasion of urban people into the countryside. On an average Sunday in the summer the resident population is effectively doubled as 15 million urban people visit the countryside for leisure purposes.