Describing the surroundings to the reader is more than just putting words on it. To describe something as “beautiful” is not enough to get the reader understand how beautiful something really is.
It can perhaps get the reader to understand that the character feels something is beautiful, but it does not convey that feeling over to the reader.
Word like “beautiful” or “scary” perhaps describes the scene in broad, general, terms, but in order to write better the player needs to show the reader what it is that has these properties.
“While the sun climbed on the sky, its light made the grass, still wet from the morning dew, sparkle further and further in the meadow. The ground was like a thousand stars as Miranda slowly walked towards the tree line, admiring the beauty”.
You have to agree that do sound better to you as a reader than a simple:
“The meadow was beautiful, Miranda slowly walked through it as the sun climbed on the sky”.
It can, of course, be too much. No matter how beautiful something sounds, filling page after page with descriptions just gets too much. To compensate for the lack of a few, clear descriptions that convey the feeling, with paragraph after paragraph with words hardly help the reader. Like strong floodlights, they do not enlighten but dazzles.
In conclusion, what is it that makes a description good? Try to say as little as possible about how the reader should feel and experience the surroundings. Instead, describe what it is that is so beutiful.