CHALK DOWNLAND IN SPRING

Orchids and other wildflowers scatter through the grasses of this unspoilt tract of downland at Whitesheet Hill in west Wiltshire. You can almost hear the skylarks overhead and picture blue butterflies and skippers dancing through the foliage. Poet Edward Thomas loved to escape into such landscapes to find perspective in the sweeping views and curving escarpments, as well as inspiration from the mysterious barrows and other ancient earthworks that still haunt these landscapes. Read more about Thomas on page 40.