I am in love with our gentle but varied countryside, the greenness, the woodlands and the trees, the fields, dry stone walls, hedgerows, the neatness and purpose of little towns and villages, our buildings, cottage gardens. Our coastline, our folk tales and folk music, traditional pubs (are there many left?) with their dark cosy wood and nicknacks amassed over the years. Roaring fires with the wind howling outside. Gentle humour, kindness, the willingness to see the best in people, the tendency towards politeness and courtesy, our willingness to help each other out, beautiful old bookshops, our rich language with all it's wonderful nuances. Our weather and climate, not too hot not too cold, our very defined seasons and everything about them, rainy days and dramatic skies. I love our tradition of Christianity and church hymns and tea and biscuits, but also the fact we're still very pagan at heart with our maypoles and halloween and other local customs that vary from place to place. I think if you strip away the politics (which I have no interest in for the sake of my own mental health) and the 'culture' of materialism and celebrity and selfishness and fakeness perpetuated by the media, I think we have the most wonderfully rich culture with our roots in the nature and spirituality of the island. I'm not sure if what I've written is culture or just snippets of things I love about the place, but I feel like that's what's in my soul. I think I am a little bit pagan though. Sorry this isn't as well written as posts usually are on MN, I'm not as articulate as most on here but felt compelled to post on this thread because I feel so weary of being made to feel ashamed of being British (English).