England

Virtual travel to England in VR180

From London’s iconic landmarks to the wild beauty of Cornwall and the pastoral charm of the Cotswolds, England offers a tapestry of experiences. Historic castles, rolling countryside, dramatic coastlines, and vibrant cities. Discover the heart of Britain in immersive 8K VR180.

England breaks into three clusters for us: Cornwall on the far south west coast, the Cotswolds inland, and London. Cornwall is the biggest of the three and the most obviously suited to VR180, because a coast path has a cliff wall on one side and nothing whatsoever on the other, and that nothing is where stereoscopic capture earns its place. Cornish Coastline follows the path for five minutes with the beaches dropping away below, Cornwalls Coastal Cove takes the track down to the rock formations at sea level, and Heading South meanders towards a lighthouse at the country’s most southerly point.

London is the cluster that surprises people. Westminster Walk and Millennium Bridge Crossing are both bridge crossings, and a bridge turns out to be a strange and excellent thing to film in 180: the handrail is right there in your near field, the Thames is moving underneath, and Big Ben or St Paul’s sits at a distance your eyes can genuinely measure rather than guess at. Colourful Streets of Notting Hill is the small one, a single minute in a lane of brightly painted townhouses, and Cornish Village Life does the same trick with narrow streets and working harbourfronts.

Visually this is soft light country. England rarely hands you hard sun, and the flat, even grey that frustrates photographers is unexpectedly kind to a stereo camera, because nothing blows out and the shadow detail holds together. Arlington Row is the clearest case: six and a half centuries of Cotswold stone with a stream running past and ducks on it, filmed at a strolling pace. Cotswolds Countryside covers more of that ground at length, and Harbour Master is the Cornish equivalent, a fixed frame on a quiet harbour asking nothing of you at all. Late spring and early autumn are when the countryside titles look most like themselves, but the coast and the city hold up in any month you care to visit them.

New to the English set? Start with Cornish Coastline, the longest walk here and a fair way to judge the rest. Westminster Walk is the city alternative, three minutes crossing the river towards Big Ben with the traffic and the crowd around you.

The split runs neatly across two themed collections: Cities and Beaches.