Trial Run

So here we are in the country for two weeks looking after a friend's dogs. This is like a trial run to the big move in just a month's time. Of course we won't be living on a farm like we are now, so the routine won't be quite the same.

Picking apples fresh off the tree and preparing them for the freezer; collecting cherry tomatoes off the vine for salad tonight; pulling up huge carrots for supper and picking raspberries for a crumble - much, much better than selecting a bag off the supermarket shelf!
Picking enough flowers for three big vases from various parts of the wrap-around garden, emptying the old flowers on the compost heap at the bottom of the garden - maybe some city dwellers do the same, but I haven't, so this is all part of the experience!

Walking the dogs, no leads, down puddle littered lanes, through harvested barley fields, under trees and butterfly inhabited woods; looking out at white sails of yachts sailing on the sun drenched river - what a pleasure! 

The quietness is delightful! No Heathrow-bound planes screeching on their final approach, no red London busses shaking the foundations, no constant emergency sirens.
Just the squealing of pigs, a neigh from the equestrian school next door, the cooing of doves, the buzzing of flies, and the grandfather clock rythmically ticking the late summer afternoon by.

This is my kind of day! This is my kind of life! Roll on four weeks! Country life, here I come!

(With many, many thanks to Jon & Heather for the opportunity of experiencing their beautiful home and garden and their three perfectly behaved dogs - Toffee (who loves apples!), Muppet and Nellie! Thank you all! We look forward to living in your community!)