It Happened in Gloucestershire is a vibrant and compelling account of the county's diverse heritage; its heroes, its battles, its inventors, its outlandish sports.

Phyllida Barstow's lively prose transports the reader across the county: from its stunning cathedral to its swan lake at Slimbridge, taking us surfing the Severn Bore, tumbling down Cooper Hill on the notorious Cheese Race, round the challenging course at Badminton and to Imjin Hill, site of the tragic stand of the Glorious Glosters.

The book celebrates those who have helped to put Gloucestershire on the map: Eddie the Eagle, William Morris, Vaughan Williams, Desert Orchid, William Tyndale, Richard III – as well as the varied claims to fame of Concorde, GCHQ, the Cotswold Lions, the conqueror of small-pox, the Gloucester Old Spot and the hardy miners of the Forest of Dean.