Happy St. George’s Day!

The view west from Kelston Round Hill, Somerset, on Good Friday (29th March) this year.  In the middle distance, the river Avon in flood at Bitton; beyond, the city of Bristol.

Wishing a very happy feast of St. George to all who call England home, or who wish her well!

Happy St. George’s Day!

Happy St. George’s Day, which (at least in the Catholic Church — I think!) has been transferred to today, Monday 24th, as yesterday was a Sunday.  Whether yesterday or today, wishing a very happy feast to all who cherish England.

The view south-west from Risby in the Lincolnshire Wolds, 10th August 2021.  Lincoln Cathedral is visible on the horizon, seventeen miles away.

Happy St. George’s Day!

May St. George and indeed St. Edmund and Our Lady of Walsingham save and protect England, this small precious portion of the Earth’s surface: much misunderstood, much maligned, much afflicted in various ways, but still the home of many people of good will, and still to be honoured, cherished and defended.

The Fantasy in E Major by Harold Darke (1888–1976) in an arrangement for strings by C. Jenkins, accompanied by a sequence of paintings by James Lynch (b. 1956) mainly of scenes in Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.  Many thanks to YouTube user David Harris for putting the two together. 

Happy St. George’s Day!

Wishing all readers a very happy feast of St. George, who was, as all sensible folk agree, a jolly good fellow all round.

The village and station of Corfe Castle, seen from the castle itself (January, 2019).

St George’s Day

I hope nobody will mind, in honour of St. George, patron of England, my use of this picture of Rudgwick in Sussex to represent all of England:

At Rudgwick, W. Sussex (Easter Sunday, 2015)

Also, remembering the words of G. K. Chesterton, who is always right, here is a picture of an English post-box, an English telegraph-pole, an English traffic-cone and an English bicycle in an English fog:

“No one can be good critic of England who does not understand fogs. And no one can be a really patriotic Englishman who does not like fogs.”  Burnt Fen, Suffolk. (Probably).

By the way, there has been a St. George’s day treat for those of us who hold that fine creed that railways are England’s greatest gift to the world (G. K. Chesterton possibly excepted) and also that nobody really minds when they are turned into a big toy.  Four generations of locomotives (one the Flying Scotsman), each in their day the last word in speed on the Great Northern / East Coast main line from London to Edinburgh, have run in parallel from Thirsk to York.  The BBC reports here.  It is admittedly at least partially a publicity stunt for the new trains that are shortly being introduced… but it’s a fun publicity stunt!