The view is taken looking towards Harrow, Middlesex, whose medieval church spire is visible on the horizon. The site is the Kilburn High Road which at the time was open country except for a small number of inns on either side of the road. The artist was living in Bell Street, Paddington, and he only had to travel some two miles up the main road in order to see the picturesque view. The artist has prettified the scene by the artful arrangement of the trees on the left.  The influence of the Dutch seventeenth century artist Nicolaes Berchem is visible in the lighting and general composition of the picture, earning the artist the soubriquet of England’s Berchem. The figures are especially well observed and Ibbetson made a preparatory drawing of them showing well-dressed ladies taking children for an outing in the country.  As is so often the case in Ibbetson’s work, the picture is a replica of the painting exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1787 which is in a London private collection.

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