Overview
Landscapes of beauty...in a world that time seems to have passed by. Step away from the city's hustle and bustle and into the country, where old castles and abbeys stand, where small villages maintain their charm, where the spirit of long ago still burns bright, unextinguished by the modern age. Striking photographs bring forth all the magic and romance of rural areas throughout Britain and France—the highlands and islands; the gardens with fountains, topiary, cottage flowers, and fragrant herbs; the canals and country railways; the small pubs where one can still quaff a pint among friends. What wonderful places to be.They range from the well-preserved, majestic ruins of abbeys such as Fountains, Lindisfarne, and Glastonbury, to the forlorn and crumbling—yet compelling—fragments of what was once so grand and imposing. And there are also the churches that still stand, monastic in origin and exhibiting the stunning craftsmanship associated with Romanesque and early medieval religious architecture. This collection of magnificent photographs celebrates the history, the settings, and the graceful structures of the abbeys and monasteries that once proudly dotted England's landscape. Gaze awestruck at the incredibly beautiful Canterbury Cathedral, where Thomas à Becket suffered martyrdom; at the fortresslike Battle Abbey from the days of the Norman invasion; and at the distinctive outline of Whitby Abbey, perched high on the cliffs in North Yorkshire. Their beauty is truly a tribute to the power of the spirit.