Adventure Time: The Home Counties
Jul. 15th, 2014 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinI spent a couple weeks pinging about the Home Counties before settling into London ...
Good morning, operatic blackbird:
When meeting up with some old school friends in Canada, we got to talking about how people move back to where they were little ... 'Hah,' I thought, 'no chance of me ever doing that.' But if you count 12-16 as 'little,' well, I spent those years living more in Redwall than in the actual space my body took up. Seeing things like this makes me very happy, and I wonder if I haven't done that after all.
Turns out some English villages are just as charming as storybooks make them out to be.
I have never been a targeted demographic for anything before. It was a little funny to notice how validated this made me feel.
Of course, what's a trip to the UK without a little recreational stalking of dead guys? I followed this one from the cradle ...
... to the grave:
With bonus statue in the village church.
The furthest I went afield was Stowe in Buckinghamshire, but it was worth it. The English may be known for their understatement but they can caricature grandiosity with the best of them.
The original owners spent too much on Palladian follies, so it got turned into a school. Teddy Evans sent his son there. One wonders exactly what his criteria were for selecting it ...
Anyway, it's all landscaped according to the new English fashion which was all the rage in the late 18th century, carefully crafted naturalism. It looks like natural countryside but is in fact carefully composed so wherever you look is a tableau. I don't even know how one begins a job like that, but they did it pretty well.
Still haven't stopped taking pictures of things that are just ... so ... GREEN.
I think I'm allowed a few years of this, seeing as I spent most of the past seven in a depressingly toasted land.
Good night!
Good morning, operatic blackbird:
When meeting up with some old school friends in Canada, we got to talking about how people move back to where they were little ... 'Hah,' I thought, 'no chance of me ever doing that.' But if you count 12-16 as 'little,' well, I spent those years living more in Redwall than in the actual space my body took up. Seeing things like this makes me very happy, and I wonder if I haven't done that after all.
Turns out some English villages are just as charming as storybooks make them out to be.
I have never been a targeted demographic for anything before. It was a little funny to notice how validated this made me feel.
Of course, what's a trip to the UK without a little recreational stalking of dead guys? I followed this one from the cradle ...
... to the grave:
With bonus statue in the village church.
The furthest I went afield was Stowe in Buckinghamshire, but it was worth it. The English may be known for their understatement but they can caricature grandiosity with the best of them.
The original owners spent too much on Palladian follies, so it got turned into a school. Teddy Evans sent his son there. One wonders exactly what his criteria were for selecting it ...
Anyway, it's all landscaped according to the new English fashion which was all the rage in the late 18th century, carefully crafted naturalism. It looks like natural countryside but is in fact carefully composed so wherever you look is a tableau. I don't even know how one begins a job like that, but they did it pretty well.
Still haven't stopped taking pictures of things that are just ... so ... GREEN.
I think I'm allowed a few years of this, seeing as I spent most of the past seven in a depressingly toasted land.
Good night!
no subject
Date: 2014-07-15 04:02 pm (UTC)ETA: Also, did you know about this? I'd be interested if not for the fact that I'll possibly be recovering from jetlag/starting a new job/possibly not even back in the UK yet at the point. Also, Italy in August is just generally a bad idea.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-16 08:14 pm (UTC)Yeeeaaaah I just ran away from a place that was like Italy in August, I think I'll give that one a miss. Looks like the people who go will have fun, if they like the heat. I'm enjoying 26 but I think Friday will be spent in a big stone building somewhere.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-18 09:28 am (UTC)I was never really a fan of the countryside even as a kid since I tend to get bitten all over by whatever insects that bites, so the hay fever thing is like pouring oil on top of fire.
13C in melb. Bliiiiisssss....:-)