Lune Gorge, Kirkby Lonsdale
The market town of Kirkby Lonsdale nestles deep in the green heart of Cumbria, between the Pennines and the Peak District. At its heart is St. Mary’s Church, a building over 1000 years old. The churchyard slopes down to a steep valley overlooking the River Lune, which winds through its gorge between fields and steep woodlands on its way to the coast. The 19th century philosopher John Ruskin said it was “one of the loveliest views in England, and therefore of the world. Whatever moorland hill, and sweet river, and English forest foliage can be at their best, is gathered there”. He wasn’t alone – several decades earlier the poet William Wordsworth had stood on the same spot and declared that it proved that Cumbria had scenery to equal Switzerland. The artist J.M.W. Turner painted the view across the river from the churchyard in the 1820s. Although it is now known as ‘Ruskin’s View’, the vista has inspired and moved people before and after he made his visit.
Bredon Hill
Geologically speaking, Bredon Hill is part of the famously beautiful Cotswold Hills range. But millions of years of erosion has left this hill standing alone as it rises nearly 1000ft above the Worcestershire countryside. This provides astounding views to the Cotswolds to the east, the Malvern Hills to the west, the Severn Valley to the south and the rolling fruit orchards and fields of Worcestershire and Warwickshire in all directions. You can see at least eight English counties from the summit – or, by some local tellings, up to 14 on a clear day.
The Bredon view has inspired countless artists over the years. Most famously it inspired A.E. Housman to centre one of the most famous poems in is cycle ‘A Shropshire Lad’ around the hill and its view. Other poets and writers have been moved to create works by the view from the top of Bredon Hill, as have composers including Ralph Vaughan Williams and Edward Elgar.
Stanage Edge
True locals will simply call this 3.5-mile gristone escarpment ‘Stanage’, since the word means ‘Stone Edge’. However, you name it, this ridge of rock runs along the top of the Peak District – the ‘spine of England’ – separating Yorkshire from Derbyshire. This line of hilltop cliffs stands between 100 and 300ft high above the surrounding ground, providing breathtaking views as the countryside drops away to the west over the Hope Valley.
For film and literature fans, Stanage Edge will be immediately recognisable as the spot where Keira Knightley, in the role of Elizabeth Bennet, drinks in this wild and beautiful landscape on her visit to Derbyshire in the 2005 movie adaption of ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
