The Blue Boar, a substantial coaching establishment, flew a prominent red ‘Vote Leave’ flag, the first we had seen since the Referendum campaign began a few days earlier. Celebrated walker and essayist Tom Bolton walks the boggy, winding coastline of Essex, encountering stunning landscapes, wind-battered towns and front-garden Union Jacks. Spanning both landscape and political writing, Low Country interrogates the natural and social environments of Essex, asking why its particular politics is so pronounced, and what we can learn from the county’s role in shaping the nation.