ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| A Moated Manor-House | [Frontispiece] |
| Haunted! | [20] |
| A Sussex Farmstead | [24] |
| Old Coaching Hostelry, Sheffield Park, Sussex | [42] |
| An Angler's Modest Inn | [42] |
| An Old Tudor Home, West Hoathly | [67] |
| A Pre-Reformation Priest-House, West Hoathly | [72] |
| "A Good Honest Alehouse" | [87] |
| At "The Queen's Head" | [96] |
| An Old Mill | [108] |
| Old Toll-House on Bath Road | [111] |
| The Village Post Office | [116] |
| Syde Church | [133] |
| Gatehouse, Stanway | [138] |
| Saxon Doorway, Stanton Lacy Church | [159] |
| A Bit of Wild Wales | [170] |
| Welsh Mountains and Moorlands | [186] |
| The Ruined Hall of Moreton Corbet | [208] |
| Haughmond Abbey, Church Doorway | [217] |
| Haughmond Abbey, Chapter-House | [218] |
| Buildwas Abbey, looking East | [229] |
| Buildwas Abbey, looking West | [230] |
| Madeley Court | [236] |
| Madeley Court, Gatehouse | [239] |
| Lilleshall Abbey | [250] |
| Figure of Sir Arthur Vernon, Tong Church | [257] |
| Boscobel | [257] |
| The Priest's Doorway | [296] |
| Doorway of the Crown Inn, Shipton-under-Wychwood | [303] |
| Bablockhythe Ferry | [318] |
| Boarstall Tower from the Moat | [328] |
| A Fourteenth-Century Doorway | [344] |
| An Old-time Home | [367] |
| A Jacobean Doorway | [383] |
A LEISURELY TOUR IN ENGLAND
CHAPTER I
Different methods of travel—The old coaching days—Maps versus guide-books—The fortune of the road—The South Downs—Hilly roads—The price of beauty—The sentimental traveller—A lonely farmstead—Oxen at work—A quaint old-world village.
There are many ways of exploring the country: one may walk, cycle, ride horseback, or drive a horse in some conveyance, go by crawling caravan or speedy motor-car—each to his fancy or opportunity. Perhaps there is no best way of travel. I say this after having sampled all the methods mentioned, excepting caravanning, for I have tramped it knapsack on back, and enjoyed the tramping, through Switzerland, Scotland, the Lake District, Wales, Cornwall, and Devon; I have taken long cycling tours; I have driven in a phaeton and dogcart from one end of our land to another; I have ridden about country on horseback with a pack; I have driven my own motor-car for more miles than I can remember, and without mishap—so I know, or ought to know, something about the subject, but I will not venture to lay down any dictum, for "What's one man's meat is another man's poison." The thing is to see the country, but what is worth seeing cannot be seen in a hurry.
Walking enthusiasts declare that walking is the only way, and certainly the pace that binds the pedestrian permits of leisured observation, almost compels it indeed: therein much virtue lies. Still there are other ways, and the convenience of a conveyance is not to be despised, for there are born wanderers, like myself, who have grown old at the game, and have come to that time of life when they prefer to be comfortably carried than to carry a load. Then there is the further comfort of not being unduly stinted in the matter of luggage, for given a conveyance, even sundry luxuries such as a luncheon-basket, camera, rugs, sketching materials, fishing-tackle (should an opportunity for sport occur), a book or two to while away a possibly dull evening, and a plentiful supply of maps may be taken without inconvenience. To foot it does not enhance the scenic charms of the way.
Stevenson, who was a great walker, confesses: "It must not be imagined that a walking tour, as some would have us fancy, is merely a better or worse way of seeing the country. There are many ways of seeing landscape quite as good." I am glad to quote Stevenson in this respect, for I have had it so frequently dinned into me that the only way really to see the country is afoot. Now I went not afoot, but travelled in my reliable little motor-car, conveniently little for exploring narrow lanes and crooked byways; and though I went by car I went leisurely.