Countryside

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I can trace my appreciation of fine landscapes to a time, in my childhood, when we holidayed in south Devon. I remember reluctantly taking part in a family trek, heading up into the hills, away from the seaside town in which we were staying.

The magical moment came when a gap in the hedges revealed a view of such beauty that I have struggled ever since to find a scene that matches it. With over 30 years of recollection, I am sure the memory has become simplified and idealised. But what I saw were perfect, rounded interlocking hills, upon which were small fields divided by thick hedges and verdant, high-summer trees. The fields were different shades of green and others displayed the rich red of ploughed Devon earth. Beyond all this, at the intersection of the hills, there was the grey-blue sea.

So now, not for me are prairified fields and wide horizons of arable crops, as seen in agriculturally intensive parts of the country. I prefer the pastures, sheltering oaks and enclosing hedges of places like the Marcher counties and the West Country - or the wild woods, gentle lakes and rugged hills of Cumbria and North Wales.

And whenever I return to Devon, I’m still in search of that perfect scene, which more than three decades ago, made me fall in love with Britain and her landscapes.

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All images are copyright © Joe Wainwright. No unauthorised use is permitted.