From Constable's Flatford Mill to Wordsworth's Ullswater, from Lindisfarne to Lulworth Cove, author, rambler and National Trust chairman Simon Jenkins explores the essence of Englishness through its richly-contoured countryside. One of his picks, Seven Sisters, from Cuckmere Haven, in Sussex, is set amid the most glorious parade of chalk cliffs in Europe. Undulating over ridges and dry valleys, the Cuckmere river runs some four miles to Beachy Head. It is breathtaking. Even on a dull day the cliffs are startlingly white, as if a sea monster had taken a giant bite out of England's coast.

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