The English Countryside

William Blake’s poem “And did those feet in ancient time”, now probably best known as the hymn “Jerusalem”, refers to “England’s green and pleasant land”. Much of England is very green, and wherever you go, the countryside is pleasing to the eye. Gnarly trees, green fields, sheep and cattle, old stone farmhouses: these and more are all elements of what makes England an appealing country to travel around. Each county provides something slightly different in terms of flora and fauna, agriculture, and architecture. And much of it has remained largely unchanged for decades or centuries and has plenty of fascinating history to go with it.

Fun fact: The claim to fame of the seventeenth-century manor house in today’s picture, Rugbourne Farm, is that it was dubbed “the birthplace of English geology” by William Smith, who stayed there in the 1790s. Smith himself is known as “the Father of English Geology”, and it was while he was living at Rugbourne that he started work on the first ever stratological map of Britain, a print of which can be viewed in the manor house.