Northern England

This scene is an original illustration set in Northern England. It lies in mid-latitudes, where the climate is oceanic — mild, wet through the year.

Small green fields run to the horizon, divided by dark hedgerows and a low dry-stone wall with a wooden gate. Sheep graze across several enclosures. A narrow lane curves away between banks. The sky is a flat sheet of grey and there are no shadows at all; everything is lit evenly and softly.

Why are the fields divided by living hedges instead of fences?

Fields this small and this green, bounded by living hedges rather than fences, are the signature of a long-settled temperate farming landscape with reliable year-round rain. Hedges take generations to establish and mark boundaries older than any map. The stone wall says the fields were cleared of it. And the shadowless grey light is not a mood: it is an oceanic climate, where cloud is the default state.

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