Out for a walk on White horse Hill near Uffington in Oxfordshire on Christmas Day. Luckily for us the day turned clear and sunny day if none too warm, so we could indulge in a walk and a visit to a couple of good pubs in the area.

Up on White Horse Hill – or what is more properly known as Uffington Castle – the White Horse itself is being gradually renovated by volunteers. This is on-going and involves bringing in tons of broken or chrushed chalk to refresh the figure. One thing I noticed was a small bunch of flowers left on the circle of the Horses eye – a rather touching paganist token to the horse and landscape?

My painting is of a view from the hill looking out over the Vale of Oxford with Dragon Hill to the right and The Manger – a dry valley carved out at the end of the last Ice Age, below.

For comparison here is a view of the panorama, with the low winter Sun casting deep shadows across the valley sides