Is This The Ugliest Countryside In The Country?

[Soaring Hawk]

Well I was on the train the other day

A few more hedgerows would be nice. Unfortunately they get in the way of the tractors!

P.s I would guess that it's Norfolk of Lincolnshire?

It was between the two. quote]

You should have popped in for a cup of tea.

And it is correct that the local wildlife has been affected. I mean the local farmers simply can't get any locals to work the fields nowadays....

Seriously, and in defence of East Anglia, at this time of year you are seeing the countryside at it's worst. Try returning in the spring, summer or autumn, take in the huge skies, the peace and quiet, clean air and the friendliness of small communities. You might feel differently.

Edited December 18, 2008 by Soaring Hawk

[Yeti]

I live on the Fens and don't find them the least big ugly. I wouldn't move for the world except to another part of the Fens. Bye the way. Kent always has been known as the garden of England....it's not a new thing.

Yes, it was Henry VIII who named Kent as the Garden of England; however, a recent national survey saw Kent drop to right near the bottom and the title was "reawarded" to N Yorkshire. And quite right too.

I can imagine the Fens do look a bit better when the sun is out, but I stand by the decision that it looked horrific the other day. It was grey and depressing. Now I did/do have flu and so nothing was ever going to look nice, but the truth is it was pretty bad. Norfolk has some very nice areas, the Broads are absolutely stunning, I remember herons right next to you in the morning with mist clinging to the water and reeds. All this with thatched cottages etc made it a beautiful place. However I just guess I've always lived among hills and could not consider being anywhere else!

[Greyowl]

Yes, it was Henry VIII who named Kent as the Garden of England; however, a recent national survey saw Kent drop to right near the bottom and the title was "reawarded" to N Yorkshire. And quite right too.

I can imagine the Fens do look a bit better when the sun is out, but I stand by the decision that it looked horrific the other day. It was grey and depressing. Now I did/do have flu and so nothing was ever going to look nice, but the truth is it was pretty bad. Norfolk has some very nice areas, the Broads are absolutely stunning, I remember herons right next to you in the morning with mist clinging to the water and reeds. All this with thatched cottages etc made it a beautiful place. However I just guess I've always lived among hills and could not consider being anywhere else!

It must have been voted that by fans of Emmerdale.

[Just Before Dawn]

I think there are a few telling posts on this thread - I've grown up in Lincolnshire and love the county, both the Wolds (which have an element of The Cotswolds about them) and The Fens and all the odd places that no-one but locals know about - the huge lowland bogs in the north west of the county on the border with Doncaster, the huge inland shifting sand dunes and heaths on the Coversands in the north which bear more than a passing resemblance to the Brecks of Norfolk and Suffolk and the rolling limestone hills of south west Lincolnshire and Rutland. The Fens, whilst certainly being an acquired taste are certainly not ugly, they have their own landscape too - they're unsurpassed on stormy nights in terms of storm-watching and the open, dark skies are a massive element of what makes Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire.

That said, talk of the countryside being a 'food factory' is a little disturbing. Yes, one of it's primary functions is to provide us with food (although there's an argument, for another day about whether were actually paying the true cost of production when we buy food) but it also supports a range of other functions from flood risk management, provision of imortant non-agricultural services (from leisure to energy, for example), it's a living environment and it supports a range of plants and animals that are important too. There's no doubt that in terms of the environment, the Fens are the most impoverished rural area in England but again, that's not really the fault of Farmers, who are doing what Government ask (and in some cases insist on) them to do, it's extremely firtile land and if we want dirt cheap food, then the farmer has to farm it intensively to get the required yields. Personally I don't really buy into the whole food security argument, but whilst Government press the case, nothing much is likely to change. I work with a fair number of farmers and most actually want to manage their farm holdings less intensively, but at the moment the legislative and regulatory drivers and CAP don't really allow it, so giving farmers static for how somewhere like the Fens looks is a little unfair IMHO.

[flagpole]

I was going to say Lincolnshire for one reason....theres no hills!

Oi! We have hills!

And anywhere looks bob in weather like that. Tsk!

[J07]

That's just so unfair, nowhere else in Britain comes close to looking that bad. I've been to many places in the world but for me nowhere compares to the Lakes, the Dales and the Highlands.

In fact parts of Norfolk are also very nice, with thatched cottages and Broads etc, but that part of the Fens gave me the creeps. I suppose there's no crop-growing up here as it's all sheep and dairy (which IS attractive) so that's one reason.

But how you can say that many parts of the country look grim I've no idea, you don't have to go to New Zealand to find nice countryside you know

If you take a grey, murky day, then many many parts of the country look that bad. As for dairy farming being attractive? Well that's a personal choice again isn't it. Intensive dairy farming on an industrial scale does not look that nice to me.

It's up to you to decide where your favourite place is of course. When I was a teenager I used to think the scenery of Wales was the best I'd seen. I certainly don't feel that way anymore. But who knows how I will feel in 20 years?

[03jtrickey]

Living in Cheltenham I am lucky to be able to walk and cycle frequently up into the Cotswolds.

However I don't think that Cambs/Lincs scenery is all that bad; yes, it is a dreadful photograph and the weather was dismal but I am sure in some circumstances it would look very pleasant.

In its defense, I came across this picture from Norfolk today, and it looks quite pleasant:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/590169

Lincolnshire scenes such as this: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/434301 would not go amiss in the Cotswolds and neither would little streams like this: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/434304

To cheer everyone up, here is a pleasant Cotswold scene, taken on a walk yesterday.

Edited December 18, 2008 by 03jtrickey

[Rustynailer]

Without getting too deep. I once happened on the Somme in NW France, it exuded sadness, so much so that my mother cried in a chapel we called at.

Its frame of mind at the time, half of the time.

[davehsug]

I actually don't think I've ever seen anything quite so beautiful, as one day in summer, when I was delivering in East Anglia early in the morning & saw Ely cathedral rising through the low level mist. Eerie & incredibly moving & beautiful too. Coming from a hilly part of the country, I always loved the fens. It was a type of landscape quite alien to me & I adored those huge skies & that the fact that even a small hill could give you views forever. There's beauty everywhere, you just need to see it

Dave

[PersianPaladin]

This is Weardale in County Durham:-

Notice the trees, grazing fields for cattle and the majestic hills in the background. This is how I think many view the traditional English landscape; and it is my favourite to be honest. However, I think some flat places could look nice with hedgerows, tree-lined fields and so forth. I do think farming had become too intensive for many years with permaculture being a better approach in my view and holistic methods. Sadly, due to large populations and our decadent lifestyles - this is not a viable option. So we will have to put up with occasionally ugly rural landscapes to go along with our ugly hellhole cities.

[Yeti]

I agree with you there PP

Here is a picture of my area

I just enjoy the hills - some of them pretty high - the fabulous limestone scenery, the sheep, moorlands, valleys, caves etc as well, of course, as the hilltop snow that is there much of the winter. I think flat landscapes can look nice, and Ely cathedral WAS spectacular I must admit. But I think at best the Fens are creepy for me rather than "beautiful". For me they have no charm, but perhaps are slightly unnerving/eerie.

Good point from RN - I went to the Somme and it is indeed very saddening. Yes, frame of mind is important and I have had bad flu this week. Maybe I will go back one day? I could certainly relish another trip to the Broads some time.