'A fascinating, informative, revelatory book' William Boyd,Guardian

Parks are such a familiar part of everyday life, you might be forgiven for thinking they have always been there. In fact, public parks are an invention. From their medieval inception as private hunting grounds through to their modern incarnation as public spaces of rest and relaxation, parks have been fought over by land-grabbing monarchs, reforming Victorian industrialists, hippies, punks, and somewhere along the way, the common folk trying to savour their single day of rest.

InA Walk in the Park, Travis Elborough excavates the history of parks in all their colour and complexity. Loving, funny and impassioned, this is a timely celebration of a small wonder that in an age of swingeing cuts we should not take for granted.

Travis Elborough is the author of four acclaimed books,The Bus We Loved, a history of the Routemaster bus;The Long Player Goodbye, a hymn to vinyl records;Wish You Were Here, a history of the British beside the seaside; andLondon Bridge in America, which tells the transatlantic story of the sale of the world's largest antique. Travis regularly appears on Radio 4 and writes for theGuardian.