There is nowhere quite like a southern English county on a bright May day with a lovely bucolic view. An idyll, an arcadia.
View over Selbourne, Hampshire
Looking at this sort of view feels overwhelmingly nostalgic. Constable must have painted here, Wordsworth must have poetised here, Austen did live here! – well, up the road in Chawton. And who wouldn’t want to live here in one of the delightful cottages. I couldn’t resist and snapped all the front doors…
A study in green…
A contrast of blue…
A wash of lilac…
A pop of pink…
A doorway of rose…
I can just see Lizzie Bennet marching through the fields round here. Not getting worried about her dress in the mud and being infuriated with Darcy.
I bet Lizzie would have jumped this.
So for those who love an England that sits contentedly in the past I give you Selbourne, a quintessential English Pastoral.
June 20th, 2015 at 8:27 am
Hi Tom – You have captured here beautifully soft images of what we would associate as a slower, gentler, more elegant (for some) time in old England’s rural past; as you say, a quintessentially English idyll. Looks like we also share a love of doorways. Best wishes, Sandy
June 20th, 2015 at 8:47 am
Nothing like a good doorway! Both a barrier and an enticement to enter. I have a particular penchant for doorknobs too… Good to hear from you Sandy. Hope you are well. Tom
June 20th, 2015 at 9:01 am
I’m well, thanks Tom and in the process of winding-down and retiring from the pro-photo business, getting in touch with past clients etc; then hope to move on with my landscape portfolio / blog project as mentioned. All the best for now. Sandy
June 20th, 2015 at 8:48 am
Nothing like a good doorway! Both a barrier and an enticement to enter. I have a particular penchant for doorknobs too… Good to hear from you Sandy. Hope you are well. Tom
June 20th, 2015 at 9:32 am
very evocative! I’ll show my daughter aged 12 – we watched ‘Becoming Jane’ yesterday which rather weirdly was filmed in Ireland as the director thought 21st C. Hants too manicured.
June 20th, 2015 at 7:57 pm
You need to dig out the classic BBC version of P&P. The one with Colin Firth as Darcy. Your daughter will be smitten, forever.
June 20th, 2015 at 9:40 am
what romance in these English vignettes! realised I had logged bucolic with totally different meaning- more ruddy faced alcoholic – thackeray rather than austen
June 20th, 2015 at 7:58 pm
I know exactly what you mean. It’s the colic in bucolic that does it. (thackaray’s not bad too…)
June 25th, 2015 at 9:00 pm
[…] about bucolic English countryside is all well and good (check it out: here), but for the opposite of Constable-esque pastoral it’s fun to whizz over to America. These […]