Friday 2010-10-15 Dev. update and Discussion

[d165w3ll]

Originally Posted by rollnloop

I see pink/purple fields that look strange to my eyes. Maybe there are parts of england where they can be seen, but i hope it won't be the full landscape colored like this.

Hedgerows are not there, there are highway wide roads instead, this does not look right either. If we can't have 3D trees on the edges, at least have green textures there, no grey highways.

Indeed, lavender is a crop in some parts of England (particularly Norfolk), though it is something of a niche crop. Not sure how widespread it was in the 1940s. Given the pressure for food crops, I imagine its appeal at the time would have been more limited.
http://www.norfolk-lavender.co.uk/pa...der-fields.php
Flax is another colourful crop.
http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-ima...ax-fields.html
Flax used to be more common in England than it is now.
So, while the bluish/purplish cast of some fields may appear odd, it is perfectly defensible.

The hedgerows, however, are a cucial part of England's landscape, particularly in the south (in the north dry-stone walls are more the rule (http://halfpie.net/article/152/dry-stone-walls)

Post-WW2 farming developments have resulted in the widespread 'grubbing-out' (destruction) of hedgerows, so what you see on GoogleEarth no longer represents the density of what you would have seen in the 1940s.

Being a relatively flat landscape, you don't often get the distant views in south-eastern England that you do in the mountains. One that struck me when I was about four is Farthing Corner just north of Hythe, in Kent. Here's am image I took this July (over forty years later). The role of hedgerows is unmistakeable. All over this part of Kent, the trees on both sides of the road meet overhead creating 'green tunnels' of surpassing beauty.