Guardian Journalist, Chris Arnot is the author of Aurum's Britain's Lost Cricket Grounds, Britain's Lost Breweries and Beers and Britain's Last Mines.

Chris toured England in search of country's most lamented lost cricket grounds, hearing reminiscences from former players and spectators apart from ground staff and club secretaries and finding what, if anything, is left nowadays, apart from the poignant photographs of their picturesque heyday that makes this a nostalgic and rueful trip back in time.

Chris believed: "Festivals offered those who lived some distance from the county headquarters the chance to celebrate the sense of being a man (or woman) of Kent or Yorkshire, Lancashire or Sussex. They were intimate affairs that brought the players closer to the public, than they would be at, say, Headingley or Old Trafford, or indeed any Test mach arena where spectators wouldn't even be close to each other during county games.

Chris has shown his concern with regard to the lost outgrounds. "There were sixty-four in 1961, an average of over three per county and only sixteen by 2001. Today there are fewer still and some counties never leave their headquarters. All the more reason to cherish the few that not only survive but somehow thrive, incluing Scarborough and Tunbridge Wells, Arundel and Guildford. Then there are Cheltenham and Chesterfield, two towns with little in common apart from the first three letters of their name and their ability still to stage stunning festivals in timeless settings."

Britain's Lost Cricket Festivals has been painstakingly researched and lovingly written by Chris Arnot. The book deserves to be bought, read and pondered.

Attractively laid out, well illustrated, logically organised and lucidly written, this book is a recommended reading.. The photographs are superb.