I want to refind, or redifine my image of England and the UK as a country. There is a broad history, steeped in stories and mysteries. Possible since the Industrial revolution circa 1780 have we lost touch with a more innocent and wonderous inter-personnal relationship with our surroundings? William Blake I’m sure can help start me off on this one.. Leading to more ancient history and times and hopefully, back to the future to a fresher, less dis-illustioned view of this little land.

‘I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.’
William Blake

Samuel Palmer is a favorate English landscape romantist of mine.

To me, he represents a lost love of the commune with nature

Click here for an interesting BBC article about Palmer and the relationship of urban and rural life
To me, spending time under the stars at night, seeing sunsets and sunrises, being in nature, can have an awe inspiring effect on us.

Here is a link to St Mary’s church of Warwick which I visited whilst passing through a couple of weeks ago, included is the Beauchamp Chantry, the finest medieval chapel in England apparently.

The church foundations date back nearly nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick in 1123. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de Beaumont had built is the crypt.

Here’s a link to a youtube video of Tony Robinson’s ‘Maid Marian,’ haven’t seen it since I was a kid – It’s good!

 A great depiction for me with some sense of medieval English life – evocative. Of course, funny, and 80’s too..  A great kid’s program I’m still (re)finding funny now!

Robinson’s scripts were always bursting with wit and imagination, injecting something of the spirit of Blackadder and often involving deliberately anachronistic, explanations of historical events.

The writing was ably supported by both the impressive design and the regular inclusion of funny, original songs.

Unusually for a children’s sitcom, there were no child characters among the main cast but even so kids flocked to a show that was offering a fun take on history, directly aimed at them.

Running for four series it was a triumph for Robinson in a notoriously difficult genre, both garlanded with well-deserved BAFTA and RTS Awards at the time and still warmly remembered today.