Book excerpt: The South Downs has throughout history been a focus of English popular culture. With chalkland, their river valleys and scarp-foot the Downs have been shaped for over millennia by successive generations of farmers, ranging from Europe's oldest inhabitants right up until the 21st century. "... possibly the most important book to have been written on the South Downs in the last half-century ... The South Downs have found their perfect biographer." Downs Country.