Hastings and Neighbourhood

Hastings and Neighbourhood

BATH AND WELLSBOURNEMOUTH AND CHRISTCHURCHCAMBRIDGECANTERBURYCHESTER AND THE DEETHE CORNISH RIVIERADARTMOORDICKENS-LANDTHE DUKERIESTHE ENGLISH LAKESEXETERFOLKESTONE AND DOVERHAMPTON COURTHASTINGS AND NEIGHBOURHOODHEREFORD AND THE WYETHE ISLE OF WIGHTTHE NEW FORESTNORWICH AND THE BROADSOXFORDTHE PEAK DISTRICTRIPON AND HARROGATESCARBOROUGHSHAKESPEARE-LANDSWANAGE AND NEIGHBOURHOODTHE THAMESWARWICK AND LEAMINGTONTHE HEART OF WESSEXWINCHESTERWINDSOR CASTLEYORK. Between the hills and the sea it liesthe most romantic province in this England of ours. Scarcely a place in it seems to belong to this present: from end to end it is built up almost entirely of memories. The very repetition of the namesRye, Winchelsea, Pevensey, Battle, Bodiam, Hurstmonceuxconjures up the past in all its magnificence and all its sadness. Nowhere in so small a space shall you find so many monuments to the greatness of England's former days, to the imperishable glory of her people; nowhere in our coasts shall you find a stretch of land so crowded with the ghosts of dead men and dead empires. If for this alone, the territory, no matter how ill-favoured and unattractive, would be worth visiting and revisiting. But there is yet another callthat of the intrinsic beauty of the country-side. And the call here is insistent. Hills and the sea; great folding downs and little valleys dropping fatness; immense stretches of lonely marsh and the nestling charms of copse-hidden villages; gentlest of streams slipping lazily through peacefullest of domains; wildest of breakers spending themselves at the base of steep tawny cliffs. Thus is the land compact. One is always reminded of a passage from Mark Twain: "That beauty which is England is alone; it has no duplicate. It is made up of very simple details, just grass, and trees, and shrubs, and roads, and hedges, and gardens, and houses, and churches, and castles, and here and there a ruin, and over all a mellow dreamland of history. But its beauty is incomparable and all its own." And search where you willnorth, south, east, westnowhere can you come upon a spot to which these words might with greater fitness be applied; for this sequestered little area is the microcosm of England. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 33042
Author: Higgins, Walter
Release Date: Jul 1, 2010
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Illustrator: Haslehust, E. W., 1866-1949