| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Rob R |
Sunny December Days - LandscapesI was going to post this yesterday, but completely forgot about it.
Anyhow, walking through the field ('the marshes' as Ixy calls it) on a bright, sunny afternoon felt like a very satisfying way to spend half an hour at the weekend. This wide-open, flat landscape of the Lower Derwent Valley gives us some interesting winter weather, from the mist rolling in on a sharp, cold day to bright sunny days like this. So, what kind of landscape do you live in, and what do you like/dislike about it? |
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| BahamaMama |
Rolling Surrey countryside, no dramatic peaks or raging rivers but very, beautiful. Soft green hills, little copses and woodlands and beautiful views. We often talk about moving abroad and when I look around me, I wonder if I will be able to. | ||
| Bebo |
Rolling hills in the immediate surrounds (part of the Kent and Sussex Weald). Lovely view over open fields. Only downside is that we're in a bit of a dip so when its rainy we end up in a bit of a quagmire.
We are fortunate to have a real variety of landscapes within a short distance. To the east of us are the Romney Marshes and to the west the Pevensey levels for flat open landscapes. Immediately to the east of Hastings are chalk downlands and cliffs. We've got pebble beaches as Hastings and Bexhill, sandy shingle down by Winchelsea and Pett and just beyond Rye there is Camber Sands, a huge expanse of very shallow water, sandy beach with dunes behind it. |
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| Bebo |
When we lived in London, we often used to spend time at the weekends walking around the Surrey countryside. Box Hill, along the River Mole and Wey, Albury, Shere, Newlands Corner and all around the Wisley area. Real lovely mix of downs, sandy heathland and deciduous woods. I would have lived there if I could have afforded it (too expensive to buy anywhere with any land at all). |
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| Rob R |
Surrounding us we have some good variety too- a few miles North runs off the heavy clay belt we live in to free draining sandy soils, and then rising sharply to the Yorkshire wolds, with lots of chalky dry dales.
Closeby to the West we have the heathland of Skipwith Common and South is the raised peat bog moors below Goole. The coast to the East is the sandy beaches and cliffs of Holderness. |
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| Mrs R |
I'm not too keen on a flat landscape. Even less on a flat landscape that floods! I loved the countryside back 'ome in Lancs - dramatically bleak in winter, with gnarled, twisted bare hawthorn trees, clinging to the steep slopes against the winds and hill sheep wadnering about looking for a bite to eat up there! Yet lush and green in summer, with deep valleys and high heathery peaks, and big solid stone buildings dotted about the place. Pendle Hill dominates everything too - everywhere you go you can still see it and it looks different from every angle and under different weather conditions. | ||
| vegplot |
Having been brought up on the North Downs my current landscape is very different but far more varied. From home we can look over to the man made slate quarry and turning slightly to the left we're gazing on 2,500 ft mountains, the Ogwen Valley and then 3,600ft mountains of the Carneddau. Turnaround as we see the relatively flat expanse of Anglesey and on a good clear day the Irish Sea.
I miss the rolling hills and woods of East Hampshire and West Sussex, we have them here but less wooded and slightly harsher. However, we do have a lot of remarkable coastline in a relatively small area. |
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| ros |
Just about flat here, very wet and muddy
I like flat - I have roots here : Long link fairyfied. (hope that works, a link fairy would be cool) but have to holiday somewhere hilly 
hmm, didn't work too well, need to zoom out and hot the arial to get the true feeling of flat
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| Bebo |
Not keen on flat to look at, but it's easier to walk through. We considered moving up into the area around Peterborugh / Grantham when looking at places that were commutable to London, but it was too bleak and open. Only certain people can love that sort of landscape and I'm not one of them. | ||
| ros |
If I walk about half a mile out into the fields at dawn or dusk and look up at the sky there is a wonderful feeling of openness that I otherwise only feel at the coast -
and you can see a storm coming for miles, I hate feeling hemmed in
Given anywhere to live though, it would be on top of Exmoor or Dartmoor - or somewhere like here http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=northam+burrows&countryCode=GB#map=51.04864,-4.2013|17|32&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:51.04919:-4.20805:17|long%20lane,%20northam%20burrows|Long%20Lane,%20Northam,%20Bideford,%20Devon,%20England,%20EX39%201 |
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| Penny Outskirts |
Not flat, but no real hills, sort of lumpy. It's lovely though, mixture of grass fields and crops, with a big wood across the way, and lots of cotswold stone walls. Only one house in view. | ||
| Tavascarow |
Above a wooded valley looking down to the sea (2 miles) on the edge of china clay country.
view from my home |
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| Penny Outskirts |
That's lovely
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| gil |
Upland hills [green hill] with river valleys, and beyond, peaty moorlands [black hill]. Not that spectacular, and doesn't photograph that well, but highly satisfying to look at. Good working countryside; sheep and hill cows, and some commercial forestry. | ||
| Jo S |
My field is the bottom of a cwm so it's bloomin wet when it rains but thanks to the stream and the river, it drains very quickly: and is wonderfully fertile.
In summer, it's utterly secluded, shielded from all but the birds and planes by trees and the overgrown (not my idea) hedge. In winter, the bare trees lets in much needed light and opens it out on dull dreary days, giving a hint of a view. Which is the downside for me. No view. I grew up in west Wales on a hillside. That's what I long for and miss. Being able to lean on the gate and watch the world go by, but be far enough away that the world doesn't know you're watching. The mist rolling through the valley below in the early morning, reaching up to touch the stars at night. |
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| welsh lamb |
On the southern edge of the Snowdonia National Park with views of Cader Idris - a tad different to the Essex countryside where I originate from 
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| Fee |
The thing I love about Surrey is the trees, lots of trees. | ||
| Barefoot Andrew |
An arable field sits immediately opposite my house; beyond that a grazing field and beyond that some woodlands. All gently rolling, although the undulations are artificial: they're ex spoil heaps from the huge coal mine that used to be here. Long long since gone however, and it's a lovely scene to gaze out in an idle moment away from the computer monitor.
Really and truly though, I'm a hills boy. The Peak District isn't very far from here and through many a childhood trip into them thar hills they're now in my blood. I can't be doing at all with urban environments. Hateful places. Majestic places like northern Derbyshire or Snowdonia really do float my boat
A. |
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| Rob R |
The landscape looks very different here at the moment- white and crisp, and the highland looks very at home with snow round his muzzle 
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