I managed to clear a morning for a brief photo shoot in the beautiful countryside of North Staffordshire the other day. The weather was the by now familiar sunshine interspersed with heavy showers.

The long driveway

The area south of Stoke on Trent is filled with beautiful rural scenery. Tree-lined drives lead off the main road to older houses just out of view.

Rolling farmland

As the brilliant sunshine cast light and cloud shadow on the patchwork fields, the random contours and trees created some picturesque perspectives.

Crops and tractor lines

Walking across a field, to capture the interesting lines in the field of crops, gave me clay-clodden feet, but also a timeless sense of calm. Ten minutes earlier torrential rain nearly kept me in the car, but the midday light won through and highlighted to me the rural charm of this area.

Beautiful places are so close to us in England, often just on our doorstep! Hope you are enjoying them too.