Posted on 06/13/2010 2:50:52 PM PDT by sussex
We thought we would share my wife’s pictures of the first true summer day of the year in England when we decided to drive from Sussex into Kent to visit Scotney Castle, now owned by The National Trust.
(Excerpt) Read more at theagedp.com ...
Such a beautiful country...such a history, going back thousands of years...such a shame it will be gone and replaced by mid-century.
Does Summer in England start at an earlier date than the rest of the Northern Hemisphere?
How soothing. I think I remember him from a snowy day post last winter.
Those were just stunning and making me wish I was over there right now...
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
The Weald is good, the Downs are best -
I'll give you the run of 'em, East to West.
Beachy Head and Winddoor Hill,
They were once and they are still.
Firle, Mount Caburn and Mount Harry
Go back as far as sums'll carry.
Ditchling Beacon and Chanctonbury Ring,
They have looked on many a thing;
And what those two have missed between 'em
I reckon Truleigh Hill has seen 'em.
Highden, Bignor and Duncton Down
Knew Old England before the Crown.
Linch Down, Treyford and Sunwood
Knew Old England before the Flood.
And when you end on the Hampshire side -
Butser's old as Time and Tide.
The Downs are sheep, the Weald is corn,
You be glad you are Sussex born!
-Rudyard Kipling
Kinda reminds me of wine country in Ontario.
A thought...I was reviewing Oliver Cromwell the other day and trying to determine if there are any parallels to the current situation in the United States.
Is Obama today’s Oliver Cromwell?
Can Cromwell and the parliamentarians be compared to the Taliban regarding their religious excesses and putting their boot on the neck of Olde England, Scotland, and the emerald isle?
What a lovely place - thanks for posting!
We’re having a rather large thunderstorm in my (otherwise) boring Southern suburb. I hope the power doesn’t go out!
Very nice! Thanks for that!
How wonderful. Thank you so much for posting—brought back enchanted memories.
True astronomic summer starts in just a few more days, but it already feels like deep summer in the UK, as the weather has been exceptionally warm (hot by their standards).
My friends in the UK are putting out feelers about immigrating to the US. I wish the employment situation were better for them.
God bless England.
Western civilization owe her the largest debt.
The book is well worth reading, it's so rooted in Sussex (and specifically in the Weald) that you almost feel the earth and breathe the air. Beautiful country!
...over my head.
“God bless England.
Western civilization owe her the largest debt.”
Absolutely - we’d still be in the Dark Ages, but for England.
Kipling is great, you know I should make a summer project of reading him.
He must be really rolling in his grave these days, poor Rudyard.
“My friends in the UK are putting out feelers about immigrating to the US. I wish the employment situation were better for them.”
I’d tell them to come here. There is still hope in this country. If we can dispatch this president and his party, we really could turn things around - provided the Republicans don’t go STUPID again (and hopefully the Tea Party can keep them honest).
We used to sing that song at school
Read "As Easy as A.B.C."
Dittos.
I do miss the English countryside.
No, not really. Cromwell helped the Parliamentarians win the war against a would be absolute monarch. Granted, he became a military dictator, but given the situation, I don’t see what else he could have done between the various factions of the Army, Landowners, Monarchists, Levelers, Diggers, Ranters, Puritans, Non-Conformists, High-Church Anglicans etc.
The world would be a poorer place if Cromwell had not been born....
I stayed in London for a week prior to touring the British Isles for three weeks in May of 2006. It was a trip of a lifetime for me. I enjoyed it so much that I returned to London in August 2007 for another 10 days. The weather in May was awesome, and we had very little rain on the road. During the trip in August 2007, it rained every day. I love British history, and get a lot of TV programs from UK torrent sites. Time Team is one of my favorites.
Oh to be in England. . . . .
The (almost) northermost town inside the US, Ft. Kent is at 49’25 North. The southern most in England is Lizard Point, Cornwall, at 49’ 57.
So, that’s why England gets a late start. It’s all above Maine.
I wonder what the Muslims are planning to do with all these British treasures. Wherever these morons have been on Earth they destroyed them all.
sussex, is this your blog? Thanks for sharing the BEAUTIFUL photos. I really enjoyed them.
I think it’s the buildings that are so beautiful. I personally prefer the Southern and Western American landscape and climate but the old ancient buildings over there REALLY make a lovely setting.
The Muslim conquest of India featured the wholesale destruction of, well, everything.
The one detail I always remember is the one Hindu temple where they had maneuvered a metal statue between four powerful magnetic rocks so that it seemingly floated in the air. The Muslims, aghast at this “sorcery,” razed the temple to the ground, the way they did everything else.
Tell them to “come on!” But, we drink our tea cold and use lots of ice. lol
Yes, tell them to come. We need the feisty gene pool replenished.
Absolutely agree - he was a most unwilling “dictator”..also, contary to common misconceptions, he loved singing and dancing and good beer but not in excess. His marriage was also a genuine love match, not always so usual in those days
Thanks for all your kind comments, Freepers. This Brit has been a regular visitor to FR since November 2000. Dont always agree with everything here but I enjoy the atmosphere - its like being in a noisy but cheerful pub.....and I fell in love with Sarah Palin within the first 3 minutes of her RNC speech.......
bump
I spent five beautiful years stationed in Yorkshire. My posse and I were fanatical followers of Leeds United and we got to see a lot of England that few tourists ever see by going to away games. Love the British pub atmosphere and waving my blue-white-yellow scarf on the terraces of Elland Road, Anfield, the Baseball Ground, Maine Road, Villa Park, Goodison Park, Stamford Bridge, inter alia.
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England’s green & pleasant Land.
It’s a beautiful work.
I first heard it by ELP in the 70’s.
Yes, it is. I once heard a beautiful version of it sung by a WWII vet in a pub in London. Very moving. God bless England.
That must have been amazing. You were very fortunate.
Prominent also in the movie Chariots of Fire which drew it’s title from the lyrics.
Wonderful pictures. I love English History, have over 250 major books on the subject especially Middle Ages of which I
trace several hundered of my family lines back to.
Read in the British press Sarah Palin will be visiting
with Lady Thatcher in England soon. Two great women.
I doubt the Irish would agree. There’s a street in Dundalk called Scarlett Street, socalled because of the blood which flowed from Cromwell’s butchering of the Irish. He was a murderer.
Most of the Irish fought on the wrong side of England’s Civil War, and have constructed a narrative which paints Cromwell as a monster to reflect this.
Cromwell was no more brutal than any other 17th century military commander, and probably a lot more merciful than most. Especially in light of the atrocities perpetrated against Protestants and settler communities by the Confederates before and during the Civil War.
The bloodletting following the storming of Drogheda for which he is most notorious for was just according to the rules of war at the time, which stated that a garrison that refused to surrender was not entitled to any quarter by the army forced to assault them, and so it was.
At the siege of Clomnel, a surrender was negotiated after several failed assaults, but Cromwell was deceived when the garrison was allowed to slip out under cover of darkness. Despite Cromwell’s extreme anger at this deception, he continued to uphold his end of the bargain by restraining his troops from looting and pillaging the town. Many of his contemporaries would not have under those circumstances.
Cromwell was a hero, albeit a flawed one who in many instances could only do his best under difficult circumstances. And the modern world with its democracy and non-absolute government owes credit to Cromwell for winning the Civil War on behalf of Parliament.
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