Posted by Sunhillow
on Sat 21 Jun 08, 1:11 PM to Sunhillow's blog.
Just over a year ago, when I moved in with J, I left a flat with no garden in a suburb of Birmingham and relocated to a much more rural area in Cheshire.
Where we live isn't remote, but it's surrounded by farmland and lots of trees and we have a decent sized garden. Getting stuck behind a tractor on our local roads is a daily occurrence!
Previously, living in a ground floor flat, I'd had problems with neighbours having rows and playing very loud drum & bass music. My flat was also very near to a corner-type shop and school, so it could be very noisy with kids hanging around outside the shop, thankfully it closed at 8pm so it wasn't bad at night.
One of the main effects of the move is that I now feel much less stressed. It's a joy to get up in the morning, open the bedroom curtains and just see beautiful countryside. And it's sooo peaceful!
I've also been able to revive my love of nature and gardening. I can't do heavy gardening because of my back problems, but on a nice day I love nothing more than pottering in the garden; weeding, pruning, planting new things, nurturing them and watching them grow. I find it incredibly rewarding, even if it is a constant battle with slugs, snails and other pests!
We have plans to do major work to the garden later this year, and I would love a greenhouse and some raised beds for growing some of our own food. I'll probably be useless at first, but I really want to try.
I've decided to do something about this passion and am looking at courses at our local agricultural college, where I'm thinking of doing horticulture and garden design.
I've started to get excited about things like compost, propogating plants & crop rotation. It's very sad!
Then there is the wildlife here.
We have many species of bird which visit our garden; blackbirds, thrushes, wrens, robins (a resident pair), blue tits, great tits (no sniggering), wood pigeons, finches and jays, even the occasional duck. And in the copse at the back of our house there are Buzzards nesting; they are just magnificent to watch. We often hear pheasant too and just now there's almost a constant "tap, tap" as a thrush smashes open a snail shell on our path. Go thrushes! The less snails the better!
We have a visiting hedgehog, although we haven't seen it yet and often when I return in the car I'll see rabbits scamper into the hedge. Sadly they're also often the victims of traffic, I see an awful lot of roadkill and even hit a bunny once when driving down a country lane. I was so upset 
And the other day I saw a beautiful badger dead by the side of a main road. But I guess that's all food for the rooks & crows.
Well enough rambling. Hopefully by next Spring I'll be pottering in my greenhouse, planting seeds with me dibber and listening to the Archers on Radio 4.
J probably won't see me for days. Oooh now that's a strong argument for getting the greenhouse 
Right, well as it's raining I can't prune me bushes, so I'm off to read the seed catalogue.
Oooh arrrrrr!!
| 21 Jun 08, 3:50 PM masters_little_toy 6 yrs |
Sounds blissful, I suppose green fingers will make a change from sticky ones Look but don't touch, touch but don't taste, taste but don't swallow...... who am I kidding!!! |
