CLOSE your eyes, lie back and think of Britain and its landscapes. On the screens of the eyelid come flashes of the grandeur of the C Cairngorms, the misted and mysterious Fens, the sheep-nibbled Downs, the Thames meandering languidly and roses around the door of a Cotswold cottage. Then, you realise there is a missing ingredient. Sound. Every image inside the eyelid is improved by adding a soundtrack; the peeow of a buzzard, the rustling of the reeds, the plop of a water vole entering the water-because every British vista should simultaneously be a soundscape.
We are too casual about matters aural. Our Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are based on what is pleasing to the eye, rather than the ear. Everyone recognises a blot on the landscape, yet who complains about scratches on the soundscape? The sounds of the countryside need not even be natural such as the wind in the primordial willows-to soothe sore ears; the percussion of a willow bat on a cricket ball and the ensuing polite ripple of applause from the crowd on the village green is acknowledged ear-balm.
Since Anglo-Saxon times, at least, ours has been an agricultural landscape. Manufactured, if you like, albeit delightfully so, with fields tied up with ribbons of hedges and Lakeland hills relieved of their trees to expose their bodily contours. When we cut down the wild wood, we give the trilling skylark, a bird of the open aspect, its advantage. The point, of course, is that the sound of our countryside is composed by human intervention, even if some of the 'raw material' is provided by Mother Nature. Birdsong, geology, the weather, the trees and the beasts are all necessary components in the polyphony that is British Nature.
この記事は Country Life UK の August 31, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Country Life UK の August 31, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery