Lycett Green, the daughter of poet John Betjeman, was brought up at Uffington, where her mother took her on trips around the country in a horse-cart or on horseback. Having fought off breast cancer, Candida decided to journey on horseback from Yorkshire to the Scottish borders to raise funds for the Churchill Hospital, which treated her. But this book is not simply the story of her ride -- it is also a reflection on her life, and dips back into similar journeys in her past, revealing an idyllic childhood in the bohemian household of her parents, with moonlit rides over the Downs. She expertly weaves the poetic and the mundane, visiting stately homes, humble farms, soaring churches and winding country lanes.