Former Oxford student, architect, art scholar, entrepreneur, and overall awesome guy William Morris grew up in this beautiful home located in the rolling hills-filled Oxfordshire region of England. Kelmscott manor is truly a hidden treasure and I highly suggest taking the time to step away from the fast paced city of London to enjoy the present... and of course, a cup of tea! Skipped over by history and the industrial revolution that ruined much of Britain's natural landscape during the 1800s, the Cotswolds are under appreciated for their beauty and peace. It's hard to explain in words the blissful atmosphere created by Morris's 1824 home, but twentieth century poet Edward Thomas sums up the experience quite well in his poem "Adlestrap."
Adlestrop, by Edward Thomas
Yes. I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop—only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
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