Shaftesbury,Dorset Beyond the hilltop’s headstones the expanse of the vale brings a sense of magic and special placeIt might be thought that when Thomas Hardy stepped aside from his narrative in Jude The Obscure to describe Shaston, or Shaftesbury, or “on the summit of a steep and imposing scarp,rising … out of the deep alluvial vale of Blackmoor” as “one of the queerest and quaintest spots in England, he was being unduly fanciful.
But whether, or nowadays,you turn aside from St John’s Hill, close to that summit, and in to a small enclosed space beside the road and catch in the sight of the ancient yew before you,its limbs spreading out wide and close to the ground above scattered headstones, then look ahead towards the sheer drop into the expanse of the vale, and you attain catch a sense of the local magic and feel you are indeed in a special place.
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Source: theguardian.com