Selasa, 17 Januari 2012

Great West Country Holidays Far Away In Wessex

By Matthew Stiller


In 1970 a Londoner was having his hair cut in a Dorset village. 'Oh, I went to London once, ' said the middle aged barber. Considering that London is just over a hundred miles away from that village the Londoner reflected that the physical remoteness could be less than the intellectual distance between himself and the barber. Nevertheless, Great West Country holidays take their charm from being far from the madding crowd.

Thomas Hardy took the title for his novel from a poem by Thomas Gray written in a rural churchyard near London. In Hardy's novels and in the poem, a magnifying glass is applied, as it were, to the lives of simple, unknown people. It is shown how they suffer the same depth and breadth of emotion; the same expanses of joy and tragedy as celebrities and those born to privilege by accident of birth.

This part of Britain is sometimes known as 'Hardy country'. So important is the influence of the novelist in making places in this remote but beautiful leg of England famous throughout the English speaking world. Yet it is not only the places but also the people and their lives that are well known. Jude, Gabriel Oak, Bathsheba and poor Tess are all vividly alive in the imaginations of those who have read Hardy's novels.

In 'Far from the Madding Crowd' there are many memorable scenes in which action takes places against a backdrop of lush vegetation. The same applies in other works and even the ancient historical mounds of historic barrows are invoked to give a sense of the ways in which emotions and relationships are timeless.

Using online sites hikers can arrange to have their baggage taken from one stage to the next. Then they only have to walk with a slight day pack carrying essentials for the day, and when they get to the overnight stop everything will be ready for them to have a splendid evening. Perhaps they will enjoy a pub evening talking to locals who may have visited London only once in their lives.

However, now that the region has been discovered by sophisticated holiday makers from across the world there will be no shortage of well travelled people. Because Cornwall has two long coastlines there are many popular beaches where sailing, boating and other water sports are enjoyed. Some holidays may focus entirely on aquatic activities.

People and places are what makes Great West Country holidays. There are also old castles and places of special interest. Perhaps because it has always been warm and fertile, very early settlements, hill forts, barrows and mysterious stone arrangements are to be found in this part of England. Apparently the early inhabitants did not need to visit London either, but were content to remain where they were.




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