Not seeing any links Foxhunter, what part of the SW are you from, I lived down near Bath for 20 something years, beautiful countryside down there
I am in N. Dorset, not so far from Bath. Very beautiful area.
We are at the bottom of a hill and the views from the top are astounding.
Not sure why I cannot get the pictures to show up, I have a Mac which I am new to and need to find out what I am doing wrong.
The big difference between the two countries is that here from the top of the hill, you can look across the Blackmoor Vale and it is like a patchwork quilt, small fields surrounded by hedgerows, it is like a patchwork quilt, ever changing as grass is mown for hay or silage. Very little arable through the Vale. Get over the hill and you hit arable. By comparison to the US the fields are tiny!
Scenery here is ever changing.
In the US, I found that you drove for mile upon mile and nothing changed.
I drove with a friend, from Salmon, Idaho to Glenwood Springs, COL. all through Utah, and was gob smacked (astounded) by the harshness and the beauty of the high dessert forever wondering how the heck they got wagon trains across the plains not knowing where the next water was or how to live off the land as one travelled.
Approaching Salt Lake there was a dark cloud over the city which I thought was probably smog but on high ground I could clearly see forest fires raging miles away, flames clearly leaping ahead missing miles of standing trees to start a new inferno miles ahead.
I had wondered why, in a small town outside of Salmon, when I went to breakfast to celebrate Independence Day, such a small town of about 20 houses needed six enormous fire appliances, had to think hard before I realised that it was because of forest fires.
I was well clear, being at least 15 miles to the east of the inferno but recognised for the first time, the power of a fire out of control. The temperatures were in the 100's with a strong wind encouraging nature to do its worse.
It was the first time I had had the chance to talk to ranchers/farmers whilst in Idaho.No big difference between the two countries at all. Boils down to hard work, risk of beating Mother Nature and the Government which keeps interfering by people who know nothing about the land making rules and regulations that are actively involving land workers filling in more and more papers that some idiots in an office somewhere either stack in a pile or burn.
In this the UK is way ahead of the USA with pen pushing for farmers!
I learned when bringing cattle down from the mountains that a good cow horse has an eye like a working Border Collie. I also learned why western saddles have a horn - for hanging onto! Heck, can them cow ponies turn!
Back at the ranch the owner actually shut one steer out of the corral and I was told to just tie the reins up on the horn and let the mare I had been riding loose. She immediately went off and worked that steer back into the corral on her own.
I loved the holiday, spent time in VA, which was very green and more like the UK, NC - which was
HOT and humid! I coped with the dry heat in ID much better than the humidity of NC.
Oh, one thing I learned in NC was to
never, ever order grits again! Looked like wallpaper paste and, regardless of additives, tasted like wallpaper paste.
COL was also beautiful but I was in a tourist area and never had a chance to meet the real rural folks. I knew they were hiding somewhere in the locality!
Again, with all the tourists it reminded me of the Isle of Wight, where I grew up. An area that relies on tourism for income.
I have been over a few times since 2001 but basically for only short trips that is why I want to return at leisure to just travel from one area to another, asking the rural locals to point me in the direction of the best of the beauty and to talk about making a living from the land in that area.