AnglOrony

  The arithmetical clipping of shrubs into hedges is present in many English front and back gardens. However, the idea is pure French . The notion of a proper English garden does not comply with the neat, geometrical outlines. The front gardens of so many English households often represent the true spirit of the 18th-century invention - to let nature simply 'be' - with the emphasis of a  least landscaping effort . The first purpose of a garden is to give peace of mind and joy, this is the English philosophy. Less is more.  Let the flower bloom in Spring in a wide and wild variety of colours - after the archetypal floral cottage gardens. As suddenly as they come to be, as quickly as they are gone later on.   And when the Spring bloom is gone, we are getting back to the roots of the garden design - let the man take control over nature - in the fashion of the French . The Spring can be indeed abundant with the contrast of colours in the English villages ....

York has been voted as one of the best cities in Britain and is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in the UK. Its location allowed it to prosper through time and to retain the old historic character. York proximity to the Great North Road, made it a major trading centre in the Middle Ages and the English kings used it as a base for wars in Scotland . A one-day breakaway trip will cover much of the city, the centre may be walked in one hour, honestly. This of course will not be enough to experience it full-heartedly.  The way of doing things in York is in a complete chilled-out zone - if you want to unwind and de-stress from hectic tourism, and still enjoy a variety, this is a place to escapade. York architecture is nowadays one of the city's major assets, it is designated as a conservation area.    Medieval city walls , gateways and towers (lower left) enclose the centre and are the best preserved in the country. Somehow, the walled cities and towns make us feel...

The megalithic sites such as Stonehenge invoke a completely different time-line . People have been building, developing and using the structure for about 2,500 years. This is 1000 years longer  than the written history of our civilization.  They have buried their ancestors around for about 2000 year. Our oldest cemeteries are no older than 200 years . Our oldest buildings survive less than 500 years. What does it mean? Are we the superior ones to those ' primitives '? Of course, we are simply different, based on the ever-changing demands of the economy. We pay less attention to the flow of time as the ancients did, as well. We don't need it as much, operating on a completely different mindset. Stonehenge built begun almost 5,000 years ago with a ditch and earth bank. Next was the circle of bluestones , that one hardly notices because they seem like a cripple from the big megaliths. The bluestones were brought from the Preseli hills in west Wales. The big sarsen stones th...

  A short walk uphill to catch the first Sun rays on the Summer Solstice morning. The lone crooked tree on the top covered in a moving fog.  It is a rare occurrence that a Full Moon accompanies the Midsummer Sun. Every 20 years or so. The morning was so misty, the sun was nowhere to be seen, we took interest in the agricultural flora . For years there had been no weeds to be seen on the edges of the fields due to heavy pesticide application.  Since a few years time, the wild plants started to reappear slowly; they are worth our appreciation.  We have just lost all hope to see the sun altogether when a glimpse of the yellow ball emerged from the thick and heavy clouds.  Going back, we snapped photos of the most important plants that we veneered in the past times - the fern , that supposed to bloom during the Midsummer night, and the St. John's Wort , a very popular herb, that used to be gathered on the Summer Solstice mornings in a belive of greater medicinal...