The British Isles is so varied in its physical and human geography for such a relatively compact area ( mainland Britain would fit in a rectangle no more than 800 X 300 miles) that I for one don't give the Most Beautiful Award to any one place.
I live in a town on a stretch of the South of England coast that is not only beautiful aesthetically but also designated a World Heritage Site for its geology, reflected in the tourism-publicity but rather misleading name, "Jurassic Coast".
Yet go inland only a few miles or so and you meet lovely rolling Chalk downs with fertile farming valleys. Drive East about 50 or 60 miles and you enter a huge nature-reserve of ancient woodlands and wide-open heaths called the New Forest. It was new... when it was designated in Mediaeval times as a royal hunting-preserve! The royal court established a management system for it, over-seen by officials called Verderers, and this continues albeit unpaid and with their duties and methods having changed over the centuries.
Go West, and you meet the National Parks of Exmoor and Dartmoor, before entering the county of Cornwall on England's South-Western "toe" - very scenic for the Summer tourists but sadly one of the nation's poorest regions for its inhabitants as its once-major, metal-mining and related industry has all but gone.
Northwards by about 60 miles from me, are the Somerset Levels, dairy-farming land barely above sea-level, between two lovely ranges called the Mendip Hills and the Quantock Hills. They meet the Severn estuary across which is the coast of South Wales, once heavily industrial in its lower valleys, but with beautiful hill country extending Northwards for about 200 miles to the Snowdonia Mountains....
Then there are the Norfolk Broads wetlands (Eastern England), the Pennine Hills in the North-West, the Lake District lakes and mountains. And on again, across the border to Lowland Scotland, the main inhabited region including Edinburgh and Glasgow; then beyond are the vast, sparsely-populated Highlands of very ancient mountains and high moors.
Those Scots Highlands, by the way, were once part of a huge chain that included the Norwegian mountains and the Appalachians, on one huge continent broken apart by the development of the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
Apart from all those particular areas are legions of scenic and man-made gems on smaller scales, adding detail to the whole assemblage.
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Our National Parks, by the way, differ from those in some other countries in that they are not all unpopulated wildernesses. They are mainly farmland of one sort or another, or managed forests; and have roads and railways, towns and villages, many farms and small-scale industries, tourist facilities etc., in them. They are though, protected from excessive and unsympathetic development by strict planning rules that seek to ensure people can live and work in them, without harming the overall landscape value.
The French have a similar approach, with their Parcs Regionelle - also beautiful landscape areas that are also places to live and work.
Oh my goodness Durdle. You truly do live in wonderland don't you? A wealth of riches. Jim and I love the ocean so where you live would be scrumptiously perfect for us. I know you know how blessed you are. I feel as if I just watched a travelogue. We love watching them. Are the Chalk Downs near the White Cliffs of Dover? They are made of chalk right? In any case thank for describing in such detail how lovely your country is. I appreciate it! :)
Basically the SE quarter of England, and much of Northern France and Belgium, is covered by a particular sequence of rocks including what was originally a huge, thick sheet of Chalk. It is folded, faulted, eroded and so on, so does not appear everywhere and the chalk downs near me do not extend in one piece to the coast around Dover, something like 150 miles away, but they are related.
I drove back over the Downs early this evening, in bright sunshine, from a day away. In places I had views of the sea from the hills, and dominating the sea-scape from angle are several huge cruise-liners at anchor, maintained by a reduced crew but like so many other things, out of work at the moment. They use the bay as it provides a sheltered anchorage free of harbour dues, for the times they'd otherwise be at sea and full of passengers.
Away to the left as I drive that road home, the hills drop away into a valley, then over the next ridge is a larger valley containing a series of lovely old villages dotted along the banks of the stream. One of those villages is Cerne Abbas, whose name indicates it had held a monastery until Henry VIII's time. It has another claim to fame though. It is perhaps better known for the "Cerne Giant" outline of a nude and very, err, male, man, wielding a club; cut into the Chalk hillside above the village. It is very old, but how old, and who might have carved it and why, no-one knows.
Off to the right, where the Downs meet the sea, is another former monastic village, Abbotsbury (which just means "Abbots' / Abbey Town.); whose own attractions are a lovely sub-tropical gardens nestling in a narrow valley, and the Swannery. That was established as a food source for the abbey; but is now a bird-reserve, still home to a huge flock of wild swans that are free to come and go as they please, but who evidently like it there.
A different rock, older than the Chalk above, outcrops there, and most of Abbotsbury's homes are built of it - a lovely, yellowish stone that gives the village a beautiful mellow patina.
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I have sometimes wondered what natural scenery I would visit in the USA if I had had the opportunity. Well, of course I know really only of those that are widely publicised abroad, including the obvious spectacles like the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls. I think I would have included Florida's Everglades for their scenery very different from my own, and for their wildlife. Also the NE States, which judging by tour-operators' advertisements do attract many visitors especially in the Autumn, or Fall, for the spectacular tree colours.
Have you ever considered doing this for a living Durdle? A TV show that would film wherever you choose to go as you tell your audience exactly the kinds of things you have so graciously shared with us? It flows so easily. I cannot imagine your ever struggling to find the right words. I just love reading about what you see. I'd love it even more if Jim and I were right there with you but well that can never be so for sure this is the next best thing to that. From what I've heard about what I would love to see up close and personal as it were would be the Aurora Borealis...the Northern Lights. I've seen it shown on TV of course and it is breathtaking. I expect there are many millions of things in the world that would take my breath away. I know you thoroughly enjoy and appreciate where you live and I'm glad that you are so good at describing it. Thank you for the nifty excellent reply! :)
This post was edited by RosieG at September 8, 2020 2:06 AM MDT
No, I'd never considered any career in any sort of journalism.
The Scots comedian Billy Connelly made something like that sort of documentary in America, following by motorcycle the old Route 66. I think he concentrated more on the residents of the villages along it, than the scenery. Having no television I did not see any of it, but I have read part of the book he wrote in parallel.
I have been lucky enough to see the Aurora Borealis, but only once, while on one of several holidays in Norway. It is seen occasionally from the Northern half of England, but only rarely and generally as a changing glow on the Northern horizon. I recall our Mam saying she was pretty sure she'd seen it, from their home in the Midlands. I live too far South for it, I think roughly level with Chicago.
You're welcome Durdle. Gee I remember Billy Connelly. He was on some TV shows long ago. He seemed to be a thoroughly delightful guy. Which brings up a question. Why do some comedians have a worldwide audience while others are very limited? Is there a universal funnybone that the very best comedians tap into? I'll ask. So you actually saw the Aurora Borealis in real life once? Lucky you! Thank you for your reply! :)
This post was edited by RosieG at September 10, 2020 3:25 AM MDT
I really couldn't choose one favorite, and I've not even been to all of it. I don't think one can judge a place just by photographs, either. I love mountains and the sea, and I do go as often as I can.
Durdle 