This is the illustrated story of an imaginary English valley from prehistory to the Victorian period. The landscape gradually develops from an uninhabited stretch of forest, to a hillside, then a swamp, until finally it becomes the busy Victorian town of Dungate.

Edward Osmond was a well known illustrator when he won the Carnegie Medal in 1953.

He describes when he was asked to help students with learning difficulties and how "I illustrated on a blackboard my lectures by means of an imaginary village which, together, we created 'from scratch.'" He says they all became very fond of the place they had created. The ideas became a book with illustrations first followed by text and, "then at the very last moment, the title of the book". A Valley Grows Up.