Wednesday 30 June 2010

Hagioscope 2

The road from...


... and the road to the Hagioscope - a road so straight that you would think it Roman. This time of year it is a green bower which stretches about 2 miles, all the way from the brow of Kingsdown and down to the church in South Wraxall, beneath which Her Indoors is holding her Summer School for painting and drawing, and my beloved grand daughter is trying to sit as still as possible, being this week's model.

I really think that there is nothing quite like England for the abundance of vegetation wrapping itself around social and political monuments like those housed in rural churches and Manor Houses. France is a bit like it, but nothing is quite the same as that either. Not since the 100 Years War, anyway.


And here are two mature students, taking a break under the churchyard Mulberry tree before beginning a hard day's slog producing art.

7 comments:

  1. That's truly beautiful Tom. I can smell all that damp earth. It's when I see photographs like these that I truly miss England.
    There's nothing like the English countryside, at least, nothing I have found.

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  2. If I remember to take my camera with me tomorrow, I will photograph what lies at the top of that straight road.

    Golfers whack their balls surrounded by 6000 year old stones and earthworks that run through the Kingsdown Golf Club. The land drops away to my workshop - about half a mile away - where I whack stone.

    Like you say, Jacqueline, only in England. This is why I will most probably die here, in the hope that I die before England gets killed.

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  3. Great views and I look forward to more. Winter here in New Zealand so it is even more pleasant to see the English countryside in summer.

    Thank you, enjoy your blog

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  4. French cemetries are so dull (other than Pere Lachaise). It's as if death only began in 1920. No old yews, no ancient stones, no students beneath mulberries.

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  5. I think it's great that your grandaughter is involved in the summer school. Is HI still holding the exhibition of work in Bath in September? I loved those portraits she did in one of your earlier posts. She's very good.

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  6. The exhibition is in November - I'll keep you informed.

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