One of the pioneer counties is Gloucestershire, the first to
form .t " county preservation society." On this body landowners are taking a prominent part, as in yet more notable degree are the Thames-side landowners of Berks, Bucks, and Oxford.
Their active co-operation makes the work very much easier, even if they cannot (as some hope they can) permanently schedule their property as open land forbidden to the builder.
One of the cardinal beauties of England is the park. Some parks are wasted. Some are too big. Some too private. But for English beauty they are pre-eminent, the home of the great old trees, of the rich grasses, of the restful spaces. There is not room to spare for many Woburns or Hatfields, but the very poorest countryman or townsman, if he has any English spirit, would desire the preservation of some of those liable at any moment to fall into the jaws of the speculative builder, who erects short-lived monstrosities, ugly in colour, shape, and 'Material, arranged in a pattern especially designed, one might think, for uncomely display and sanitary inconvenience.
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