Yorkshire and Middle-earth
While living in Australia, I used to find guidebooks full of pictures of the English countryside and imagine how they fitted scenes in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle earth. Now that I have the luxury of being able to live on the edge of the Peak District in Yorkshire, I am able to take my own photographs and ponder where each scene would lie in that fantasy landscape.
Not that Yorkshire itself isn’t its own fantasy landscape: even in the small area of South Yorkshire in which I live, there are woods which strike a walker as haunted, vistas that seem Elvish, and hidden corners where one feels certain that one will encounter a modern descendant of a hobbit. These pictures are offered as a tribute, then, not only to Tolkien’s ability to evoke real natural panoramas, but also to the beauty of the place where I live.
Michel Delving on the White Downs
Looking towards the Ettinmoors.
The North Downs.
The open heathland of Minhiriath, south of the Shire.
Farming country near the Far Downs.
The heart of the Shire.
Up Chetwood way.
Looking into Mirkwood.
Approaching Mithlond by the sea.
Near Woodhall.
The woods of Harlindon.
Stoneworks near Fornost.
Let me know if you'd like to see more of 'Middle-earth'.