I wouldn't call this scene rural or picturesque by any means. England's green and pleasant land has long been encroached on by suburban sprawl. None the less this is an archetypal English landscape of a sort. Town meets country; in this case the outskirts of Hitchin in Hertfordshire. The ploughed field is indicative of intensive farming, the hills beyond evoke an ancient vista. The post-war housing is what the future used to look like.