Driving back from Stoke-on-Trent, I took a short diversion off the M40 to the countryside that I loved most while living in London. This is where we used to go cycling and walking many years ago, my favourite landscapes of southern England. South of Junction 5 of the M40, the villages located between the motorway and Henley-on-Thames - Ibstone, Turville, Fingest, Frieth, Hambleden - this is a repository of timeless rural English atmosphere, perfectly preserved.
Below: The Crown Inn, Pishill, a
Wolseley 1500 Series I parked outside. (The barmaid was from Bratislava.)
I've often thought that when I retire - in around 25 years time, just as Britain is about to join the Zloty zone at a rate of five pounds to the zloty - that I should sell up in Poland and move here to spend my twilight years hiking from pub to pub and reading books of poetry in front of a log fire.
However, I fear that by then these lanes will marked with double yellow lines, bluebell fields (what's the Polish for 'bluebell'?) will be fenced off with barbed wire as designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest, CCTV cameras will be attached to every telegraph pole and hip-hop graffiti will adorn the half-timbered cottages.
Until then, I shall cherish this landscape as I have since early childhood visits to these parts. The essence of England - villages nestling amid the rolling countryside, where decency, fair play, politeness and common sense prevail and strolling down to the local pub for a pint of hand-drawn ale.
Above: The village of Turville. Note the old-style road sign. I suspect this unspoilt village is often used as a period location for films and TV series.
Below: The churchyard, Turville.
This is what Poland lacks; beautiful historic villages. As I've said - the countryside is where the English want to retire to, where Poles want to flee from. Whether it's physical layout (English villages are clustered around the church, the pond, the green, the pub, Polish villages are strung out along a straight road - no focal point for the community), history (Poland's built landscape has been steamrollered down the ages), or simply the attitudes of the inhabitants, rural England decidedly has the edge over rural Poland.
Below: cottages in Turville
But then give me urban Poland over urban England any day of the week.
Driving back from Stoke-on-Trent, I took a short diversion off the M40 to the countryside that I loved most while living in London. This is where we used to go cycling and walking many years ago, my favourite landscapes of southern England. South of Junction 5 of the M40, the villages located between the motorway and Henley-on-Thames - Ibstone, Turville, Fingest, Frieth, Hambleden - this is a repository of timeless rural English atmosphere, perfectly preserved. Below: The Crown Inn, Pishill, a Wolseley 1500 Series I parked outside. (The barmaid was from Bratislava.)
I've often thought that when I retire - in around 25 years time, just as Britain is about to join the Zloty zone at a rate of five pounds to the zloty - that I should sell up in Poland and move here to spend my twilight years hiking from pub to pub and reading books of poetry in front of a log fire.
However, I fear that by then these lanes will marked with double yellow lines, bluebell fields (what's the Polish for 'bluebell'?) will be fenced off with barbed wire as designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest, CCTV cameras will be attached to every telegraph pole and hip-hop graffiti will adorn the half-timbered cottages.
Until then, I shall cherish this landscape as I have since early childhood visits to these parts. The essence of England - villages nestling amid the rolling countryside, where decency, fair play, politeness and common sense prevail and strolling down to the local pub for a pint of hand-drawn ale. Above: The village of Turville. Note the old-style road sign. I suspect this unspoilt village is often used as a period location for films and TV series. Below: The churchyard, Turville.
This is what Poland lacks; beautiful historic villages. As I've said - the countryside is where the English want to retire to, where Poles want to flee from. Whether it's physical layout (English villages are clustered around the church, the pond, the green, the pub, Polish villages are strung out along a straight road - no focal point for the community), history (Poland's built landscape has been steamrollered down the ages), or simply the attitudes of the inhabitants, rural England decidedly has the edge over rural Poland. Below: cottages in Turville
But then give me urban Poland over urban England any day of the week.
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