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Influential women of the British countryside<\/h2>\n
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Today is International Women\u2019s Day and to celebrate we look at some of the fantastic things women have achieved in the British countryside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Octavia Hill, co-founder of the National Trust<\/h3>\n
Arguably the saviour of Britain\u2019s green spaces, Octavia Hill was a social reformer whose belief in the benefits of fresh air led to the creation of the National Trust. Thanks to the work of Octavia Hill, some of Britain\u2019s most beautiful and iconic lands have been conserved for public enjoyment today.<\/p>\n
Born in 1838, she was also a political activist who worked from the age of 14 to improve the lives of London\u2019s poor.<\/p>\n
After years working with people living in some of the worst conditions in the country, she came to the realisation that green sites were vital to people\u2019s mental and physical wellbeing. She said the residents needed \u201ca few acres where the hill top enables the Londoner to rise above the smoke, to feel a refreshing air for a little time and to see the sun setting in coloured glory which abounds so in the Earth God made\u201d.<\/p>\n
With many of the built-up, industrial conurbations treeless and devoid of any real access to rural surroundings, she campaigned for the graveyards to be open to the public, for Parliament Hill to be protected from development and eventually set up the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest of Natural Beauty in January 1895.<\/p>\n
She believed that the capital\u2019s poor had just as much right to the city\u2019s fast disappearing green spaces as the rich and that is an attitude that took hold and spread throughout the country.<\/p>\n
Read about Octavia Hill<\/a><\/p>\n
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