England's Green And Pleasant Land
The South Downs - Sussex
This pastoral scene on the South Downs in Sussex comes as close to the rural idyll as you are likely to find in England, in Spring. At least in my opinion! 😁
It was a gorgeous spring day and we drove from one beautiful vista to another, stopping occasionally to explore small villages and/or take photographs.
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Be sure to click on the image to view it full screen!
This sign post points to the direction of the South Downs Way, a 100 mile hike from the white chalk cliffs at Eastbourne to Winchester, the first capital of England.
We've done bits of it, but not the whole thing.
Thank you to @juliank and @photocontests for this daily photography contest.
The South Downs are truly beautiful and the villages are pure chocolate box picture perfect.
Rye is a lovely place to visit.
The area inspired Thomas Hardy's, Wessex. tip!
Really molometer? I always thought Thomas Hardy's Wessex was inspired by Dorset - The Mayor of Casterbridge (which is Dorchester) and all that. 😁
Rye is on my list of places to revisit. It's been a while since I was there and I think it will give me some great photographs for Steemit.
Thank you for the tip. I appreciate it!
Hope the weather is as glorious for you as is still is for us. 😊
The exact location of Wessex was a bit of a movable feast but in general you are right. It extended as far north as Oxford in some books. Dorset was the setting for Casterbridge.
In Tess of the d'Urbervilles he describes her entering a village.
I was reading the book at the time (1980's) I visited Rye and it was as if he was describing the scene right in front on me. It was pretty amazing in similarity.
Hardy used and described many real locations which is one of the reasons why the stories/locations are so familiar.
It's a fascinating topic. :)
It was actually a much bigger area than I'd realised. I was thinking it was more or less a straight county, e.g. Wessex for Dorset but it seems it was much bigger than that.
According to Google: "In its permanent nucleus, its land approximated that of the modern counties of Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, and Somerset."
As you say it was a bit of a moveable feast.
It always fascinates me how much we assume things and have no idea that it is an assumption. I've never really thought very deeply about Wessex but had obviously made an assumption about it that is incorrect. 😁
Looks like the perfect place to go hiking/jogging. Love the year round greenery across the UK :)
Me too @seanreilly. That's why I mostly don't get too bothered about the rain. It seems a small price to pay. 😊
I have heard the name Sussex, maybe from one of Ms. Agatha Christie' works.
Thanks for posting, @gillianpearce.
Quite possibly @aneukpineung78. Or maybe from Peter James? He's a crime writer who bases all his pooks here. 😊
Not Mr. James, for sure. 😀
Anyway, thanks for posting.
I'm going to have to cross that ocean one day just to have a look. Maybe if the US securities and exchange commission will stop looking at every cryptocurrency debating whether they are securities or bubble gum the prices might rise and I'll buy me a plane ticket and come visit.
You really should @spozone and come long enough to take in some other European countries as well. There's so much to see in such a relatively small area this side of The Pond! 😊
There are definitely some lovely spots in those parts of the UK; makes you think of dairy cows and good cheese and little lambs frolicking in the clover!
=^..^=
It does indeed @curatorcat. I thought the sheep added a very nice touch to the photograph! 😊
Thank you for stopping by.
Very nice. Reminds me of a few places near where we live. Rolling hill country, pastureland. I like the sign posts, too, though it seems like you'd have to be fairly close to see them. Guess as long as that's where you're walking, it would be fine.
That's quite a hike. I can see why you haven't done the whole thing. It might take me a hundred trips. :)
If you were walking the South Downs Way you'd be close to the sign posts @glenalbrethsen, unless you were lost. 😂 There are loads of them.
I know quite a few people who've done the whole hike both in sections and all in one go. We started it once but only did a few sections and then fizzled out. Time's the main issue. Or t least it was then. Nowadays I'd struggle to do the longer sections. 😢
re: sign posts
Okay. I wasn't entirely clear if the sign posts were near the main road or not, which I would guess there must be a main road in order to even get there in the first place. Then you would hike into the South Downs Way area from the road or a parking area.
So, are the fields still used for agriculture? If they are, I don't know of any place around here where they allow an actual hike around the farms. That would be cool, though, because it's beautiful country. :)
The sign posts in the picture are actually at the side of a road. Not sure I'd call it a main one though although it is busy.
The start is not actually near a main road, at least at the Eastbourne end. When we walked that bit we caught a bus and then about a 40 minute walk to get to the start.
The feeds are used for farming. There are many public rights of way in England that it is the duty of farmers to keep clear so that they can be walked. Often a contentious issue as you can imagine, from both sides. But overall I'd say it works prerry well.
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