CHAPTER
27
ENGLAND
IN
AN ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN
We couldn’t wait to see this cottage that may
be our new home, so took a drive to do a little viewing ourselves. We arrived at a beautiful little typical
English countryside village with an old church and a pub and a street lined
with old Tudor style houses. To find the
cottage to rent we had to drive down a long, narrow winding lane and about a
mile from the village we found our perfect home. A large white cottage set in a
beautiful big garden and surrounded by orchards and fields greeted us with a
wintery sunshine welcome. We just knew
we HAD to have this place.
Bosbury Village
Village Church
The most perfect cottage in the countryside
Entering the cottage we discovered a very large farm style kitchen with room for table and chairs. It looked newly renovated with plenty of cupboards and an eye-level oven. The dining room had open beam work and a chandelier hanging over the table with rich red carpets and velvet curtains to match. The lounge was spacious with big windows looking out on to the garden. Upstairs were two very large bedrooms, with views of the surrounding fields and a large bathroom with a separate shower. There was even a sun room downstairs which could serve as a guest room if need be. It was well cared for, clean and modern without detracting from the old cottage style of the building. We just knew this was where we wanted to live. We begged and pleaded with the agent appealing to any compassionate side he may have had. And somehow, it worked. The owners were very happy to accept six months’ rent up front and we had our home at last.
As an added bonus we then discovered that not
only did we have the largest garden we’d ever owned (rented) but that the apple orchard
beyond and the fields adjoining all belonged to the property. We could go for long walks with Paddy without
even leaving our property.
The “Man with the Van” was again employed and
our furniture was moved into the cottage.
The villagers were all waiting to meet the new tenants who apparently
came from New Zealand. We almost let
them continue to believe that this was our origin as coming from South Africa,
we had discovered, was not the ideal.(“Oh you come from South Africa! Are you a
racist?”) But since we had never even visited New Zealand we decided to play it
safe and be honest with our neighbours who didn’t seem to mind that we were in
fact from the dark continent of Africa.
Our spirits were immediately lifted as we
arranged our furniture and hung our pictures and I organised the kitchen
cupboards although with our few meagre belongings I couldn’t even fill a
quarter of them. We were given a
wonderful welcome by our landlady who had left a pot of daffodils and a bottle
of cider together with a typed sheet of every little bit of information we would
need regarding electricity and water connections, refuse removal, the names of
all our neighbours and nearest places to eat.
They arrived the next day to introduce themselves and proved to be warm
and friendly people who were eager to help with anything we needed. They had very kindly left all the curtains in
place, the fridge, dining room suite, outdoor furniture and a tank full of oil
for the central heating. They also offered
us the use of a lawn mower and we found many gardening tools in one of the
outside sheds.
Our faith in humanity had been restored.
Our self confidence had returned.
Depression had flown out the window.
We had hit the jackpot!
On a walk across our vast property the
following day we discovered a path leading to a little stream with trees
growing on the grassy banks dotted with wild flowers. This stream became Paddy’s new “beach” where
we could throw sticks for him to fetch while he paddled in the shallow water.
We moved in on the 1st of March which is the beginning of spring here. Already the garden was filled with a large variety of yellow daffodils although the trees and hedges were still bare and brown. Each time we went for a walk we saw more wild flowers appearing, primroses, bluebells, and wild daffodils and then slowly the new leaves started to appear on the trees, followed by apple blossoms which meant a time for the bees to start work. The air was filled with birds singing and the buzzing of bees and we felt as though we were living on the set of The Darling Buds of May.
The danger of living in such a beautiful
setting is that you never want to leave.
We felt we were living in our own little personal paradise. For a while we forgot about the problems of
being unemployed and just lived. We
went for walks, cooked lovely meals, enjoyed the solitude, the central heating,
the space and freedom.
An afternoon walk in the countryside
As winter turned into spring we watched the
leaves appearing on the trees and marvelled at the different colours. In our garden alone we counted 6 different
trees and each one had a different shade of green or red. Gradually the stick silhouettes of winter
became lush and leafy. And the birds
returned. We began to put out seeds and
discovered squirrels feasting in the little wooden bird house.
I wondered where all the bird seed was going
The sun returned and although it was nowhere
near what we would consider as warm, it was pleasant. It made a wonderful change to actually enjoy
basking in the sun, where once we had hidden away from it.
At the village pub we met characters who, like us, preferred to live away from the hustle and bustle of city life. One such person was a man who was the self professed black sheep of his aristocratic family and in fact heir to a small fortune and son of a Lord. He was an interesting person but obviously a loner who preferred his own company whilst raising Bonsai trees and researching history in the area, restoring houses using the methods from hundreds of years ago.
The Village Pub
The people we met in our little lane were all
very elderly, but extraordinarily fit and healthy. Our next door neighbour was 94 and still
living alone and tending his beautiful garden.
The next neighbour was the same age and also alone having lived in the
same lovely old Tudor style cottage for the past 60 years.
I noticed that people work hard in the UK.
They do all their own housework and gardening and they walk long distances
where we would use our car just to get down the road.
I began to realise why people live to such a
ripe old age in this country. A lot of
it is surely down to hard work! While
living in Africa and enjoying the luxury of cheap and available labour we
certainly haven’t done ourselves any favours, relaxing on the porch enjoying
sundowners while our food is prepared and served to us. Because of our lazy lifestyles we then have
to pay to go to a gym just to keep fit. Of course life in Africa is changing
for most as labour isn’t so cheap anymore and more and more people are starting
to do their own housework and gardening, which can’t be a bad thing.
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