Life in the country is full to bursting. It’s hard work, early mornings, knowing exactly what the weather is because you’re out in it and being away from the seeming conveniences of the city. It can be isolating and make you feel very small, but mostly what it makes you feel is connected. To everything. You feel your place in the world in a way that isn’t possible when surrounded by too many buildings and lots of noisy bustle. It brings peace and contemplation, it brings the kind of tiredness that means you’ve earned your cup of tea, your hot dinner, your restful night’s sleep. Even though the days can be busy, out here there is more time for reading, for learning and for doing than I ever found living in the heart of a city. Perhaps that’s why places like my country home are so often the idyllic respite people long to escape to. I only know that the quiet many starred nights and the scented breeze are things I’m lucky enough to experience year round. I no longer look at pictures of nature while trapped in a florescent lit brick jungle. Here we live in nature. Here we watch the seasons turn and marvel.
