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{{B}}Text{{/B}} … Dramatic Peak District, with its genuine steep fells, never fails to astonish me. A car will{{U}} (9) {{/U}}you all round the Peak District{{U}} (10) {{/U}}a morning. It is nothing{{U}} (11) {{/U}}a crumpled green handkerchief. {{U}}(12) {{/U}}, we hear of search parties going out there to find{{U}} (13) {{/U}}travelers. I have never explored this region properly, and so it remains to me a country of{{U}} (14) {{/U}}. I could go on with this list of surprises, but perhaps you had better make your own. Another{{U}} (15) {{/U}}of our landscape is its exquisite moderation. It has been born of a compromise{{U}} (16) {{/U}}wildness and tameness, between Nature and Man. One{{U}} (17) {{/U}}for this is that it contains that exquisite{{U}} (18) {{/U}}between Nature and Man. The fence and the gate are man-made, but are not severely regular and trim{{U}} (19) {{/U}}they would be in some other countries. The trees and hedges, the grass and{{U}} (20) {{/U}}flowers, all suggest that Nature has not been forced{{U}} (21) {{/U}}obedience. The irregularity and coloring of the cottage make it{{U}} (22) {{/U}}snugly into the landscape, and you feel it might have grown there, because it looks nearly as much a piece of natural history as the trees. In some countries, the cottage would have declared, "Man, the drainer, the tiller, the builder, has settled here. " In this English{{U}} (23) {{/U}}there is no such direct opposition. Men and trees and flowers, we feel, have all settled down comfortably together. The motto is, "Live and let live. " This exquisite{{U}} (24) {{/U}}between Nature and Man explains in part the charm of the older Britain. The whole town fitted snugly into the landscape, {{U}}(25) {{/U}}they were no more than bits of woodland; and roads went{{U}} (26) {{/U}}the easiest way as{{U}} (27) {{/U}}as rivers. It was impossible to say where cultivation ended and wild life began. It was a country rich{{U}} (28) {{/U}}trees, birds, and wild flowers, as we can see to this day. |