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索尔茲伯里大教堂与放牧的羊群，英格兰 Salisbury Cathedral with grazing flock of sheep, England (© Slawek Staszczuk Photo/Alamy)

Happy 800th, Salisbury Cathedral

We're in the English county of Wiltshire to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Salisbury Cathedral—the towering marvel of Early English Gothic design rising behind these contentedly grazing sheep. The massive church's first foundation stones were laid here in Salisbury—then called New Sarum—on April 28, 1220. The structure itself dates back even further, the bulk of it having been moved over a mile piece by piece from the former Roman stronghold of Old Sarum.

The building's main body was complete by the time the cathedral was consecrated in 1258, and the magnificent spire was finished in its centennial year, in 1320. Even taller towers were built for cathedrals in London and Lincoln, but the Salisbury spire outlived both of those and, for more than four centuries now, has been the tallest church spire in England.

波特兰比尔灯塔处的晨光和海浪，英格兰多塞特郡 (© Lee Pengelly/Getty Images Plus)

夕阳下的椋鸟，英格兰布莱克浦 Starlings at sunset in Blackpool, England (© Mediaworld Images/Alamy)

Mesmerizing murmuration

Around this time of year, as temperatures dip in the Northern Hemisphere, European or common starlings put on a dazzling show. Most of the time, these noisy birds are scorned for their bullying behavior at the birdfeeder. But in autumn months, they gather to roost in huge flocks, like here in Blackpool, England. At dusk, the starlings take flight en masse and flock together in a hypnotizing, swirling cloud of fluttering wings. This behavior is called mumuration. It's thought to help keep the birds warm while also acting as a defensive tactic to confuse predators like hawks and falcons. But maybe the raptors are just awestruck by the starlings' synchronized spectacle like the rest of us.

The 'Crown of Light' installation is projected onto Durham Cathedral during the 2013 Lumiere Durham festival in England (© Stuart Forster/Alamy)

The perfect canvas for an ancient text

Since 2009, the city of Durham has served as a grand stage for the biennial Lumiere Durham festival. During four days in November, works of 'son et lumière'—a French phrase that means 'sound and light'—provide spectators with new ways of viewing public spaces and buildings. Artists from around the world design large-scale light shows paired with narratives and sound effects. It's become the UK's largest light festival, and Lumiere Durham's 10th anniversary, which begins today, promises to attract more than 200,000 people to enjoy the illuminated artworks along cobbled streets.

This image from the 2013 festival shows 'Crown of Light,' a work that projects an ancient Christian manuscript called the Lindisfarne Gospels onto the exterior walls of the Durham Cathedral. The original manuscript, considered one of the world's oldest and finest examples of medieval European book paintings, was brought to the Durham area in the 9th century by monks who had fled their monastery in Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, to avoid Viking raids. The Lindisfarne Gospels is considered an illuminated manuscript because the book is painted in gold and silver with miniature illustrations and ornate border art. But at the festival, the term gets a new meaning as the illuminated manuscript lights up the cathedral for thousands of spectators to see.

埃克斯穆尔国家公园斯托克佩罗公地，英国英格兰 Stoke Pero Common, Exmoor National Park, England, UK (© David Noton/Alamy)

The wild romance of Exmoor

Welcome to Exmoor National Park, a patchwork of landscapes covering 267 square miles of south-west England. Here, grassy open moorland and heather-covered hills nestle up against wooded valleys, streams, waterfalls, farmland and some of the highest sea cliffs in the country – scenery which inspired RD Blackmore's 1869 historical romance novel Lorna Doone.

From Exmoor's highest point on Dunkery Hill – pictured in today's image - visitors can get sweeping views stretching from Dartmoor in the south up to the Bristol Channel and beyond on a clear day, while at night, Exmoor offers one of the best stargazing spots in the UK as an International Dark Sky Reserve.

The park is also home to a large variety of wildlife including Exmoor ponies - which roam freely on the moor – rare butterflies, otters and wild red deer, a nod to Exmoor's past as an ancient royal forest. But keep your eyes peeled for the legendary Beast of Exmoor, a huge puma or panther-like creature which some claim to have spotted roaming the moors.

德比郡高峰区的Winnats山口，英格兰 (© Christopher Drabble/Alamy)

Artist Luke Jerram's installation 'Museum of the Moon' at Liverpool Cathedral, England (© Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Bringing the moon to earth

It was fifty years ago that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to feel an alien gravity tugging at them. By landing on the moon on July 20, 1969, a mere 66 years after the first powered flight by the Wright brothers, the two astronauts met the challenge set by John F. Kennedy seven years earlier to land men on the moon before the end of the decade.

In the decades since, NASA and other space agencies around the world have continued to study our satellite companion to unlock its secrets. Those studies produced the detailed images and maps that British artist Luke Jerram used to produce his 23-foot-diameter sculpture Museum of the Moon (shown here in Liverpool Cathedral). The amazingly detailed installation is currently on display the Houston Museum of Natural Science as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

A learning garden

Today we're in Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire, England. The gardens have gone through many changes since 1931, when Beatrix Havergal and Avice Sanders first began turning the grounds of a country house into an educational public garden. (Waterperry grew much-needed produce during World War II.) The gardening school at Waterperry closed in 1971, and now the land is owned and operated by the School of Economic Science, which uses some of the buildings for study projects and retreats. Waterperry is a wonderful example of classic English gardening. Visitors can stroll through the aromatic ‘knot garden' seen on our homepage today, or explore other parts of the gardens, including orchards, a nursery, and a museum.

格拉斯顿伯里托尔和圣迈克尔塔，英格兰 Glastonbury Tor and St Michael's Tower in England for the start of the Glastonbury Festival (© Spraggon Photography/Getty Images Plus)

Get amped for Glastonbury

Greetings from Glastonbury Tor and St. Michael's Tower in Somerset county of southwest England. The tor (a Celtic word for an isolated hill) is often mentioned in Celtic mythology, and some believe it to be the site of Avalon, a mythical island central to legends of King Arthur. Glastonbury Tor has other enduring spiritual associations as well, particularly to various neopagan beliefs. Archaeological evidence suggests that several buildings have been constructed at the top of the hill over many centuries, but all that remains today is the roofless tower of St. Michael’s Church, built in the 1300s.

Glastonbury Tor may dominate the surrounding coastal plain, but it isn't visible from the nearby Glastonbury Festival, which begins today and runs through Sunday, June 30. Since 1970, music fans have turned the Glastonbury area into an outdoor bacchanalian summer retreat as they converge on the area to watch some of the world's most popular pop and rock musicians perform live at the festival. Most summers, the farmland around the village of Pilton—including festival-creator Michael Eavis' Worthy Farm—is transformed into the largest greenfield festival in the world, with more than 100,000 people attending and camping in the area. In an homage to the area’s most enduring feature, the festival's official artwork this year is a representation of Glastonbury Tor and its tower under a full moon, surrounded by red clouds.

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