This book looks at the significance of the countryside and landscape in early British socialism, and at a wide range of examples of socialist activities in the open air. These include cycling, gardening, land colonies and settlements, summer schools, town and country planning, rambling and camping as well as sports and other leisure pastimes. These are set in the context of socialist idealism, and the iconography and mythology of the countryside, showing how the British socialist vision of 'Merrie England' remained constant through changing social, political and economic circumstances.