Regular readers will know that I’ve recently turned our lives up-side-down and moved out of the city and into the countryside to a little old house with a garden. It’s something I’ve been yearning to do for so many years, I really can’t begin to tell you what it means to me. Every time I stop to think about the fact that I’ve actually finally done it, it brings a tear to my eye. Sniff!
It’s taken a while to get used to the new house and it is certainly keeping me very busy. I’ve spent the first couple of months stripping out the oh so very old and broken and it’s been like living in a building site. The children have been amazingly patient and resourceful as nearly all of our possessions are still boxed away including all their toys!
This last week has finally seen a turn around though and the big stuff like water, gas and electricity are now up and running and it’s time to start putting the house back together and making it a home. I’m very excited!
My favourite room of the house so far is the kitchen. We’re lucky that it’s big enough to fit in a table and chairs so we’ll be able to eat in it every day and I just know that it will become the heart of the home.
My favourite thing about the kitchen are the views of the garden from its two casement windows. I have never had a real garden before, just a little courtyard and I am totally, head-over-heels besotted. I love opening the windows and letting the sounds, sights and smells come flooding in.
The first kitchen window is South facing so is often bright and sunny and it looks out across our precious bit of garden. Whenever I’m feeling bogged down by the mammoth task putting this house together is, I just have to look out of this window at the children running around outside and at the flowers I can’t yet name and I remember what it’s all been for and how much the aching back, grazed knees and paint covered hair are worth it. It’s a change of lifestyle for us city dwellers and we love it.
The second kitchen window looks out onto the side of the garden and is shaded by a big old oak tree. I’ve put up our garden table and chairs there as it’s a lovely cool spot on a hot day and it’s a great place to sit and see the whole garden. I am so looking forward to having lots of summer BBQs and filling the seats with family and friends.
I’ve swapped the convenience of schools, work and shops on our doorstep for a long drive everyday to reach them but I’ve swapped them for this small garden and it’s been a great pay off. Just wandering around for a few minutes we see so much life, so much green, so much sky! The sense of space and the feel of the grass between our toes is certainly good for the soul.
I adore the way the children are so interested in the nature they see around them. It’s one of the main reasons that I wanted a garden. To give them a bit of a natural childhood before they got too big.
This afternoon we found lots of flying ants on one of our steps and all games stopped while they took a good look.
And here are some marigolds that they planted when we first moved in.
Everyday we see new flowers opening up to find out about. I know nothing about different plants and have so much to learn. It will be lovely learning new things over the seasons.
We see lots and lots of insects, especially bees which we hardly ever saw in the city. They seem to really love the clover so we’ve been leaving a patch of grass uncut so that they can benefit from the clover flowering there.
I don’t know what these tall purple flowers are called yet but they’ve sprung up recently and the bees are keeping very busy there.
I don’t know what these flowers are called either. I suspect they might officially be a ‘weed’ as I see them in the hedgerows too, but I think they’re really pretty and the bees love them so they’re staying!
I really would love to have a proper macro lens to photograph all of these insects properly but you can just see the pollen on this little bee even though it is a bit blurred!
I thought the city was noisy with its sirens, music and endless streams of busy traffic. I wasn’t prepared for the noise of the countryside at all! The sound of the birds in my garden is quite amazing, really! But unlike the city, it’s a good noise, soothing, encouraging. And the more we feed the birds and the more we use the garden, the more used to us and bolder they seem to be getting.
Even our town cat Boris seems to be embracing the country pace and is happily swapped the sofa for spending his days sunning himself on the grass or shading under this little bush.
Our garden isn’t very big but it’s truly wonderful to have some outside space to play and relax in. And even when it’s too wet and cold to be outside we can still enjoy it from the window.
I love #mywindowview, what a blessing!
What’s your favourite window view?
(This is a featured post, all views are my own.)