BBC Countryfile Magazine

Sara Maitland

“What is a common?” Or “what is ‘common land’?” people ask. The answer is so complicated, frankly, that whatever I tell you in 600 words someone will object to – and they’ll probably be right.

We’re not helped here by the oddity of the word ‘common’ itself – which can mean ‘frequent’, ‘occurring often’, or a person whose

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