Updated for the year 2000 - Devizes White Horse
I was brought up at Crawley, in Sussex, but the South Downs, to the East of Lewes, were always a kind of spiritual home, for it was here that the family took its annual camping holiday.
This was where we camped, down in that valley on Furlongs Farm, between the villages of Beddingham, Glynde and Firle. It may look ordinary to you, the reader and viewer, but to members of my family that spot brings back the happiest of memories. I took this picture in 1997.
And this is my sister, down in the valley on the very spot where we used to pitch our tents. Her husband took this one in 1999.
The love of chalkland was born in me as a child. These days I am truly fortunate for I can sit (as now), tapping at my computer, but a glance up brings the chalkland of Salisbury Plain into view which, I hope, inspires my writing just a bit.
That is the view, but I can't guarantee the frost or the stunning sun rise.
Of course, much of my delight in chalk is on a small scale - the flora and fauna. Avid readers of my site will know that I love scabious and they are common on the chalk. So too are delightful thistles, complete with cinnabar moths and knapweed.
These were all taken in 1999 near to my house in Lavington.
Slightly further afield and back on to the big scale. The chalk downs may not be very high, but they afford superb views. Near Westbury, the hills also offer first rate launch sides for those eager to leap off the side of a hill.
