English Country

Have you ever visit English country, the real English country, with little stone cottages, green hills spotted by herds of white sheep, red brick paved narrow streets in quiet villages, small rivers lined with willows, and old fashioned pubs? I have traveled many places in the world but the place I really fell in love is the England countryside.

Driving on the rocky and muddy country road, which is as wide as a car, I could smell the fresh cut grass mixed with the smell of the feces of cows and sheep. Fighting with the branches of trees that grow so vigorously with so many leaves extending over from one side of the road to the other, I could see through the bushes the layers of layers of hills colored of burnt sienna, yellow, brown and green, spotted by herds of white sheep and black brown cows, and rolls after rolls of hay spreading all over on the ground. Little villages covered by woods could be seen from distance; made the country picture perfect to frame. Once in a while, we had to stop the car along the bushes to let the coming car to pass, and waved back to the driver.

Every 15 minutes to a half hour, there passed a village. All the villages were as same as pretty, but were different with their own identities. Most of the villages were built on the hills. The range of the constructions laid the roll of houses on different levels, and created a very special beauty along with the steep streets. The streets were usually paved with rocks or bricks that brought a feeling of time back to 200 years ago. There were villages with their special identities of stone cottages, and the others with little grass roofed houses. From outside of the houses, they looked so small, making me wonder if there was enough room for a family to live there. There were streets, which had no sidewalks, with the doors of the houses opening right on to the streets. It was often to see a tiny creek running behind a little house, and created an atmosphere of peace and relaxing.  Rivers, with very clear water, were seen in most villages, with green willows along the sides, and the wild ducks jumping and playing, making the villages full of life and energy.  A white church with pointed tower could be seen in every village, and it was a place for the soul and spirits, and also a high light of the village.

Another interesting scenery in the country is that, no matter how little population or how remote the area was, there was always a pub along the road. At most of time, they were in villages or little towns, sometimes, however, a pub appeared in the middle of nowhere, accompanied by an abandoned ban and a few rotten wood fence. To my surprise, the pub was never an abandoned place; it was full of live. That people stop by a pub and have a drink is as normal as we have a lunch break at work everyday. The way of decoration in most pubs that I only saw in the movies, looked having history, furnished with heavy raw wooden tables and chairs, and exposed wooden beam and posts in the walls and ceiling. The atmosphere was always friendly. I did believe that every pub had a history behind because the most populate name for pubs is “The Arm of the King”, which reminded me that I was standing on a land of the King.

I like to travel, especially travel in the countryside. England country is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen, and my most favorite place to stay. Its scene stayed in my memory like a framed picture for many years, and I know I will go back to visit it again.