Few motorists crawling along the narrow A272 road in Sussex feel anything approaching affection for it.

It's been called the longest lane in England and an "awful road". But Dutchman Pieter Boogaart says the cross-country highway is the essence of England. To prove his point, Boogaart, a true Anglophile, has written a lavishly-

illustrated 213-page book.

Called A272 - An Ode to a Road, it contains everything everyone would want to know about the road and a great deal they didn't beside. Asked why anyone would want to write a book about one not very famous road, Boogaart replied: "Why not?"

He added: "English roads are beautiful, a fact the English may need to be reminded of. Traffic may not be beautiful; the roads are. The A272 is a case in point. The A272 is only marginally special as a road. But for some reason it always filled me with a sense of nostalgia when we came across it or when I saw it on a map. It's a bit like falling in love and trying to explain it in a level-headed and rational way."

With his wife, Rita, an art historian, Boogaart has travelled the 90-mile length of the road many times, from Poundford in East Sussex to just beyond Winchester in Hampshire.

Boogaart's long labour of love gives a guide to all the attractions and features of interest within several miles on either side, ranging from Ashdown Forest to the railway tunnel at Clayton.

He says nearly every great writer in England lived or worked somewhere near the road, including Dickens and Belloc. Nothing escapes his eye whether it is an unusual milepost or a half-timbered house.

On his meander through Sussex, he also ruminates on topics ranging from quirks of the English language to problems with cycling along the A272.

Boogaart is a whizz with statistics.

He informs his readers the A272 is crossed by five current railways and four dismantled ones. Six rivers flow under it and eight power lines go over. The road has 13 sets of traffic lights and 31 roundabouts. Along the road, there are 34 phone boxes, 47 pillar boxes, 16 hotels, 21 churches and 32 pubs.

Boogaart is no stranger to oddities. An English teacher, he researches follies and other curiosities. His only real complaints are about the high cost of hotels and the lack of a cycle track along the A272.

And his only shocks as a cyclist came when a pheasant flew across his face and when a dog barked in his ear - it was sitting in the cab of a passing lorry.

His love affair with this unremarkable road continues and Boogaart said his book records the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the trivial and the glorious.

He added: "With hindsight I can unequivocally say why I have come to love this road. It represents England. It epitomises England."

The A272: An Ode To A Road, by Pieter Boogaart, is published by Pallas Athene at £14.95.

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