Lake District memory

When I was last up in the Lake District I noticed how much I loved the landscape. Of course, the lakes and mountains are fabulously picturesque. But I absolutely fell in love with just driving along the lanes and seeing the vivid green fields on either side, daubed with trees and, everywhere I looked there were rocks and boulders sticking out up from the grass. It was a rugged landscape and yet at the same time gentle. I thought it was a fascinating and rare combination. Must get back there sometime.

Stones

A picture I took of the famous Avebury stone circle a few months ago. It was a bright Spring day and the air was clean and fresh. I always love going to Avebury and just wander around amongst the giant stones and imbibe the unearthly atmosphere. It is strang to think that these unusual monuments are older than the pyramids in Egypt. Who knows what would have gone on here?

Into the Country

It was the August Bank Holiday and, for once, the weather was warm and wonderfully sunny. We went to see the in-laws who live across Salisbury Plain in a small market town in Hampshire. As always it was a fabulous drive along England's long and winding roads, with at every turn another bucolic vista opening up. I spotted the chalk white horse on a hill to the north of the Plain and we saw plenty of birds of prey hovering over the crops in the hot late-summer air. There were people out walking, cycling, hiking. Happy faces sitting in the beer gardens of picturesque country pubs made for a cheerful sight.

Scotland is rugged and remote, Wales impressive and green, but England...
England is a melancholy dream, a hazy half-remembrance of great things that lurk forever just out of sight in the recent past. A flavour savoured, a mirage, a dream cherished. I love it.

Driving to Evesham

We went to see friends of ours yesterday who live near Evesham. This is about an hour and a half drive away through some really lovely countryside. I love the English country and there are few things that give me more pleasure than a leisurely drive along the long and winding roads of this green land.

Of course, the weather was abysmal and the windscreen wipers were earning their keep. You have to remember that there is a reason why England is so very green and that is, in a word, rain. And plenty of it. Even the recent floods notwithstanding it tends to rain often here.

In the part of the country where I live the weather is usually quite mild, due to the gulf stream that warms up the South-Western corner of Britain. In the seven years that I have been living in this part of England I have never been cold during the winter season. And you see people out in shorts and short sleeves all year round, including in the months of December and January; something that seemed crazy to me in the beginning.

While at Heathrow the ecomentalists are still protesting against the weather, I cast a weary eye out of the window only to see it’s a grey and sullen day.

If only it would rain again, that would be something.

A drive in the country

My darling wife and I went to visit some friends in Hampshire on the weekend. To get there from Bristol we needed to cross through North-East Somerset and Wiltshire. The route cuts straight through the enigmatic Salisbury Plain, a large wild area of which quite a few parts are designated for Army training purposes.

I love the English countryside; the winding roads, the grey-stone cottages, the country pubs and the rolling hills, the incredibly green fields all around.

I grew up in Holland and lived most of my life there in the urbanised western part of the country. There were rural pastures to be found there but nothing every really spoke to me in the way that the English countryside does.

The sun was out, traffic was light, and it was a joy just to meander down through the lush scenery. It was a pleasure to be alive that day.

Avebury standing stone

Standing stone at Avebury in Wiltshire, England. I was there at the Easter weekend and once again enjoyed the special atmosphere of the stone circle.

It's a remarkable place and I've posted a few blogs about it on a few blogging forums so I shall refrain from repeating myself here. Suffice to say that I find it more inspirational than Stonehenge. I always love the hour's drive down to Avebury, passing some other peculiar stone age features of the Wiltshire countyside.

It was a spectacularly fine day so the photos came out rather well. Hope the old gods didn't mind me flashing my digital camera about the place..