Customer Reviews
Slow down, enjoy England..... - By: The Village Green Preservation Society, 15 Sep 2008 
This is just the sort of guidebook I've been waiting for. Packed full of places to stay & places to visit, inspired by 'good food & artisan producers.... craftmanship & community, landscape & history'. The book is divided into geographical regions with useful maps so that you can plan your time (or dipin & out as you wish). As with all Sawday guides, the places reviewed have a thorough write up. Stunning photos are sprinkled through the book..... A book to curl up with & plan your slow adventures. Just gorgeous!
Nice book, but .. - By: Jane, 26 Jul 2008 
Nice book, I agree. But it annoyed me that the map showing the location of the featured places had roads but no railway stations were shown. Shouldn't a book like this be getting us out of our cars? Travelling by train is much more relaxing.
Once hooked, followers of Alistair Sawday remain committed for life - By: Foodlovers Britain Ltd, 10 Jun 2008 Once hooked, followers of Alistair Sawday remain committed for life. They doubtlessly will welcome his new book Go Slow England with booking forms to the ready, but for the uninitiated, let me explain.
Alistair Sawday is to where to stay as Nigel Slater is to what to cook. In other words both are enthusiasts, know, love & care passionately about their respective worlds, never - or hardly ever - put a pen wrong & - here's the salient point - understand the wants, needs & desires of their fans. As travellers, we all are faced with certain choices. What really matters when booking a hotel or B&B is as much about lifestyle & taste as it is about budget.
Certainly I'm not adverse to a bit (well, actually more than a bit) of luxury but there are other important considerations. As Nigel Slater writesin the foreword, "....it means everything that the building is made of local stone or wood or brick, that it has a history & has been restored or repaired with sympathetic materials. It matters that the vegetables on my plate were grownin the owner's garden or allotment, that lamb came from the farm over the hill & the proprietor had a handin making my supper. .......I need to know the effect that my choice of accommodation will have on the local environment; how it enriches the community & the lives of those who work there".
Go Slow England encompasses all these values & more. Divided into seven areas, it details, with very alluring photographs, 48 houses selected because they are "especially beautiful or slow or inspiring or all three" where travellers can rest their weary heads. Each region also includes Slow travel - places to visit & Slow food - producers, shops & markets, most of whom are FoodLovers Approved.
This is travelling at its slowest & its best. Chosen with authority & conviction & highlighting local distinctiveness, it cannot fail to make every Food Lover a committed fan
Slow and green - By: Hugo Schonbeck, 01 Apr 2008 First impression is what a lovely book this is - physically - an alluring photograph of an old-fashioned bicyclein a summer meadow, framedin subdued olive tones, positively exuding Slow & green. Pick it up, feel its weight & connect with its seriousness; hold & turn the pages gently as all good book-lovers do. Then see that this is not mere presentation but the paper & printer are FSC/ISO 14001 certified for low ecological impact. You arein familiar Alastair Sawday territory; principles worn on the sleeve, backed up with real commitment & action.
Inside, we are invited to Go Slow too. After a concise & beautifully illustrated introduction to Slow values & a few of the well-known names of English Slow such as Riverford & Fordhall Farm, we are then taken on a geographical tour of England. The rest of the book is structured around seven clusters of counties such the expected Cornwall & Devon & the unfamiliar - not to mention unconnected - grouping of Suffolk, Norfolk & Northamptonshire. These seven sections are all structured alike with a clear & useful map followed firstly by Slow Travel, a gazetteer of attractions from gardens & farmers' markets to walks & cycleways, then Slow Food which has short entries for cafés, markets & pubs, & finally the bulk of the text which is Special Places to Stay.
And this is the real pleasure of the book. We are introduced to the forty-eight Special Places across England through the owners of the properties & are shown how they have put their values into practice as well. In substantial & well-illustrated entries we meet families & pets, hear the stories & most importantly, what qualifies these them as Special & Slow places - & can almost smell the hand-made bread, touch the quilt & hear the laughter. These are the true heroes of Slowin England, who are rightly celebratedin this book.
It is not a tome for the backpack or panniers but one for poring over at home: dreaming & planning. And that is what I intended when I dipped back into it for Slow ideas for a trip to friends. This was when I had a disappointment & my only quibble with the book - albeit a major one - there is a whole swathe of the midlands from Lincolnshirein the East to Cheshirein the West, including the delightful county of Derbyshire where my friends reside, with no entriesin the book at all. This is an omission to be rectified next time & a challenge to discover the hidden Slow heroes who are surely out there.
Go Slow England - By: Jeanette Leyland, 30 Mar 2008 Probably the best travel book I've read. This book inspires me to explore areas of England that I've not previously visited. The insight into how & why the home owners became 'Slow'is fascinating, particularly as some of them have been so for many years. Having read most of the book whilst beingin France has shown that we don't have to escape too far to enjoy being 'Slow'.
