ABSTRACT
In 1992, at Blois, a jointly organised conference was held by the British and French to consider ‘Landscapes in a New Europe’, following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the march towards membership of the EU by many countries in central and eastern Europe. Both the authors of this introduction were very much involved at Blois, and although without doubt the most important outcome of this conference, following a paper by Adrian Phillips, was the emergence of the European Landscape Convention, one of the impressions gained by those attending was the similarity of the problems faced both by France and by the United Kingdom, and sometimes even the similarity of solutions, but also the frequent difference in the motives. Whereas the UK’s landscape policy was primarily driven by the wish for the aesthetically pleasing landscapes (considered as scenery) consequent upon family farming, often in designated protected areas, French policy was driven by a the desire for good food and rich nature produced by small-scale farmers over rather wider areas.
