I’ve always
enjoyed trips out in the countryside, especially in spring.
As a child,
a Sunday afternoon treat on a sunny day was a drive out into the Kentish
countryside to see whatever the current seasonal attraction may be – bluebell
woods, primrose-strewn grassy banks, fields of lambs or budding hedgerows. The
rest of the time we led a typical urban lifestyle.
For years
my life has been town based, with a sprinkling of forays into the countryside
for high days and holidays. I enjoyed every moment of my rural stays in Wales,
Yorkshire and Cornwall and found myself feeling extremely ‘hemmed in’ on my
return.
Certainly
day-to-day life consisted of urban activities and journeys, with occasional
countryside jaunts being welcome, but not always frequent enough.
This year
however, things are different. We’re experiencing our first spring in our rural
based ‘glorified shed’. Now every journey we make involves travelling through
the countryside – we’re surrounded by it!
Whether we
jump in the car, hop on a bus or just go for a stroll, we pass farms, woodland,
fields of sheep and horses and generally expanses of open green space in whichever
direction we travel. In fact we don’t even have to leave home to experience the
whole country scene, just by looking out of the window we can see the river,
common land and distant hills. We certainly don’t need to go on Sunday drives
to experience the countryside and we have no inclination to reverse the process
and go for a drive to town!
You would
even think that when planning our first holiday since moving here we’d chose a
very different environment. But no! We’ve booked a stay in another rural
location, just in a different part of this green and pleasant land.
This spring
we’re revelling in the delights of our new surroundings. It is indeed our first
country spring!
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