SURREY HILLS, ENGLAND

Rightly designated by the British government as an “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty” in the late 1950s, Surrey Hills has scenery to spare. With its landscape of rolling chalk downs, bracken-covered heaths, and grassy meadows, this is quintessential English countryside and a source of constant inspiration for resident plein-air artists like Imogen Hartridge, who works out of a studio in the quiet Surrey village of Ashtead, a 50-minute train ride southwest from London’s Victoria Station. Hartridge’s bold, expressive style is perfectly suited to conveying the contours and textures of the area, which includes England’s largest vineyard, Denbies Wine Estate, depicted above. “It’s a beautiful spot,” she says of the estate, where she set up her easel early last spring. “As you descend through the vines you can see the iconic Box Hill with the winery nestled in the valley below. The patterns created by the rows of vines really caught my eye, as did the snowdrops blossoming in the foreground. There was a real feeling that the buds on the trees and vines were just on the verge of opening. It was wonderfully reassuring after a long, cold winter.”