Homeward Bound
Dear Friend,
I hope that 2023 has begun happily for you despite the soggy start, I’m certainly embracing the frosty mornings in place of what felt like an endless downpour for the first couple of weeks. I have been waiting and waiting to write this, I had it drafted in my mind throughout December in the hope I could send you Christmas greetings along with our news, but in the way of these things glitches and delays prevailed.
I woke early one morning to the most beautiful light as the sun rose and pulled my coat on over my pjs!
When I last wrote we had just had an offer accepted on a house on the Somerset levels and had accepted an offer on the barn, so far so good, until I popped next door (to the house I grew up in) to let them know we were moving. As my words landed the couple looked at each other with a wry smile and asked me if perhaps I’d like to move home as they were also planning to move! They bought the house from my parents who downsized and left 11 years ago and I hadn’t imagined for one moment that the house would become available again in my lifetime, but family needs have dictated a move for them so it seems that fate has intervened.
We hummed and hawed a bit as to what we should do and were undecided in truth until our neighbours asked if we’d like to go and have a proper look around the house which has changed a bit over the last decade. Of course we wanted to (for who can resist a peek into others’ homes in any case) and as we walked home via our adjoining land I think we all felt that there was no decision to make. So, a couple of phone calls with estate agents were made and the deal was done.
One of the gates between our old and new homes
It would all be so simple were it not for the conveyancing wouldn’t it?! However, we finally exchanged contracts throughout the chain a couple of days ago and my relief is gently becoming excitement. We move on 2nd February which means life will be busy for a few weeks, having squeezed ourselves into the barn for the past three years or more, with many of our belongings in storage, it will be lovely to have a little more space - I will even have room for a desk inside instead of in the garage!
I am gently removing things such as plant supports from the garden to take next door with us
I will of course share lots of pictures in due course, I actually love the process of making a home in a new place and to do so in an old/new place feels really fun. We’ll have a very generous garden and a wonderful cider apple orchard whose trees I remember planting many years ago. We’ll have apples aplenty for making juice, growing space for oodles of pretty flowers and even a greenhouse. Our shepherd hut, Bramble, will come with us and we hope to welcome paying guests there in the future when she’s properly plumbed in and settled in the right spot.
This barn incorporates the stables where our horses were once kept and Bramble will reside here
December was very busy photography wise and I am still catching up on some editing from my travels in November. I had a lovely brand shoot with a new interior designer with a wonderfully sustainable ethos who I’ll share more about in the future, a shoot of charity tree planting for Flamingo Chicks at Childrens’ Hospice SW and sadly several calls from Remember My Baby. My involvement with local asylum seekers continues and I’m still throwing the odd pot too. The combination of ways in which my days are filled is very satisfying, and I’ve enjoyed sitting down to write this too.
With love to you for the year ahead,
Vx