WE’RE HOME!
Dear Friend,
Well, I never thought I would be moving back home in my mid 50s, albeit to a house that has changed and is now owned by us not my parents. The last six weeks have felt a mixture of surreal and sort of inevitable as I’ve waded through the packing boxes, I feel so at home while slightly incredulous at really being here. It is just lovely to be rediscovering the house in its latest incarnation and beginning to make it our own, finding the right spot for each of our belongings and editing out some that have outlived their use or beauty (in my eyes).
While the house feels largely familiar and I have a sense of how it might evolve the garden is a different matter. I swing between apprehension (feeling we have bitten off rather more than we can chew) and excitement at all the lovely things I can try to grow here. I have completely overwhelmed myself on several occasions by following every single train of thought about seeds, bulbs, perennial beds, rose gardens, salad varieties, fruit tree pruning, lack of quince blossom and not yet being able to remember exactly where I’ve left my secateurs!
I’m trying to pace myself, to slow down and allow myself to get to know the garden over the months ahead, but that hasn’t stopped me from potting up the dahlia bulbs and beginning some early seed sewing - just the sweet peas - to satisfy that urge. The productive area of the garden has a wonderful bed of rhubarb, blackcurrants, raspberries and gooseberries and four huge vegetable beds which I think will become more flower based since there’s only so much produce 2 or 3 of us can eat.
There are fewer pictures on my camera of the house than I imagined there would be, but in truth I’ve felt quite exhausted and not as creative as a consequence. My voluntary work with local asylum seekers continues and I enjoy it, but like so many I am saddened, frustrated and furious by the way in which the government is behaving. Those I speak to and am involved with are so grateful to be here and to be safe, but the uncertainty they exist under is horribly stressful. Still, this afternoon I was delighted to be asked to join a family at a school assembly in which their 6 year old son was presented with an award for his endless enthusiasm for learning - can’t ask for more than that!
As I write this and reflect on the last 6 weeks or more I’m not actually surprised I’m tired, we’ve achieved a great deal already on top of which I’ve been caring for Gertie who managed to throw herself at high speed into a barbed wire fence within a hedge and sustain a nasty laceration, four weeks on it is finally more or less healed but there have been many, many visits to the vet and she’s still confined to lead walks.
My studio space now has an insulated roof in order to make it warm enough to work in, the sink is in situ and the waste pipe will be connected next week - but until then there’s a bucket and I can’t wait to get my hands on the clay again. This weekend will see me filling the shelves of our newly installed bookcase (most of our books have been in storage for years so I can’t wait!) and trying to resist ordering yet more seeds, and next week I’ll be editing a client shoot from yesterday. Oh, and I’ve given my website a refresh - phew!
I think the garden, in due course, would make a wonderful photo shoot location for all sorts of people, once the shepherd hut is back in action, the trees are in leaf, the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining it will be positively idyllic! I might even be tempted to host workshops/events here as I did in the barn in the past - what do you think? Any ideas?
Wishing you a sunny start to Spring and hoping all is well with you.
With love,
Vx