Pam Sharpe reflects on the journals and expeditions of a 17th-century traveller. I first encountered Celia Fiennes (1662-1741), early modern traveller and journal writer, when I was an undergraduate. Being a keen traveller myself and studying social and economic history, Fiennes’ journeys fascinated me1. Here was a woman who travelled independently, observed the rapidly changing English countryside and by writing down what she saw, provides us with one of the clearest windows onto the early modern English economy. Through the eyes of Celia Fiennes we can easily envisage England in transition with changing land use, emerging industries and incipient urbanisation.