William Cobbett

From 'Rural Rides'

1821

.......From Gloucester to Cheltenham the country is level, and the land is rich and good. The fields along here are ploughed in ridges about twenty feet wide, and the angle of this species of roof is pretty nearly as sharp as that of some slated roofs of houses. There is no wet under; it is the top wet only that they aim at keeping from doing mischief. Cheltenham is a nasty, ill-looking place, half clown and half cockney.......

.......With the exception of a little dell about eight miles from Cirencester, this miserable country continued to the distance of ten miles, when, all of a sudden, I looked down from the top of a hill into the vale of Gloucester ! Never was there, surely, such a contrast in this world! This hill is called Burlip Hill ; it is much about a mile down it, and the descent so steep as to require the wheel of the chaise to be locked; and, even with that precaution, I did not think it over and above safe to sit in the chaise; so, upon Sir Robert Wilson's principle of taking care of Number One , I got out and walked down. From this hill you see the Morvan Hills in Wales. You look down into a sort of dish with a flat bottom, the Hills are the sides of the dish, and the city of Gloucester, which you plainly see, at seven miles distance from Burlip Hill, appears to be not far from the centre of the dish. All here is fine; fine farms; fine pastures; all inclosed fields; all divided by hedges; orchards a plenty; and I had scarcely seen one apple since I left Berkshire. Gloucester is a fine, clean, beautiful place; and, which is of a vast deal more importance, the labourers' dwellings, as I came along, looked good, and the labourers themselves pretty well as to dress and healthiness. The girls at work in the fields (always my standard) are not in rags, with bits of shoes tied on their feet and rags tied round their ankles, as they had in Wiltshire.......