This work analyzes a number of current issues facing conservation of British landscape and countryside. The countryside is facing ever greater demands and pressures - for greater access by the public for recreation, for better environmental practices in farming, for greater diversity in the rural economy, and for stronger laws on conservation of nature. Topics covered by the essays collected within this volume include: consideration of the European Habitats Directive and its implementation in the UK; agricultural reform and the environment; legal issues of public access and recreation; the growing control of agricultural pollution; and land tenure arrangements for conservation and the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995.