England's Green and Pleasant Land

16.03.2009 15 °C

When, in the late 1700's, poet William Blake wrote,
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.,
he could have had Oxford in mind.
The great university colleges rise majestically out of the green water meadows of the Thames in a sight as breathtaking and timeless as the karst islands of HaLong Bay in Vietnam. But these magnificent peaks were crafted in medieval times by Henry VIII's masons and not by millions of years of erosion.

Near to Oxford are the rolling Cotswold Hills, home to a wealth of historic towns and villages. Queen Elizabeth the first would have recognized many of the buildings that still dot this iconic landscape of England. Here are just a few.
These cottages are at Lower Slaughter.

This Tudor Mansion is near Stow-on-the-Wold.

While this great house is in Lower Slaughter.

And here are two adorable ladies crossing the river in the beautiful old village of Bourton-on-the-Water.