Edited by Gill Burrell, Tuesday, 5 Mar 2024, 19:18
When I first moved here I wanted to live a healthier, simpler way of life, to connect with nature, be away from the town and city, make a life with my family. This was my romantic ideal I suppose, but it wasn't planned it just then sort of happened, that we moved into a rented cottage in the country near my aunt.
My first home here was an old 300 yr old cottage, quite remote on the edge of a quiet hamlet, next to wheat fields and farm lands.
It was very 'rough' to say the least! Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! It was a complete culture shock after living in a town apartment!
We lived in that old cottage and we had to light the fire every day. This was my husbands task to do, I well remember him getting up each day at 5am bleary eyed, going to fetch the wood and coal from the coal shed, up the long garden path, ( even in a winter snow blizzard!) Then having to sweep and clean the fireplace, before laying down the fire and getting it to set alight.
We also had an allotment to look after, although it was mainly vegetables, we didn't quite get into keeping animals or chickens!
I was busy all day long looking after the two lively young children, which was a full time job for me, looking after a toddler and a baby. Cleaning and cooking.
We lived there in that very old cottage for 5 years and I loved it! although I had a bit of postnatal depression after the second baby, he had a heart condition, so I worried a lot. I soon recovered after about a year.
I used to like walking with the children, one in the pram, one in the push chair, wandering about all over the countryside. Even better when they eventually both started walking! We learned all about flowers, birds, animals, trees all sorts of things from the natural world.
The children grew stronger and learned to walk and play, the eldest child helped his dad to stack up all the wood and help to do some work in the garden. He would pedal his little car or his tricycle around the garden collecting fallen apples to put in the carrier basket on the back, he would then pedal back to the house with them.
Once a week we caught the bus to the nearest village 7 miles away, to do all the shopping, even one very kind neighbour gave us a lift on a regular basis.as we had no car, but there was a regular bus service, its just that it was 3/4 of an hour to even walk to the main road to catch the bus!
Those were great times, but unfortunately eventually the cottage deteriorated, fell into disrepair and the landlord didn't want to spend the money on fixing up the windows and stopping the dampness so it had to be condemned.
Reluctantly we had to move into the nearest village, where we had much more amenities, shops and so on. We found a modern cottage instead, which was owned by a very good housing association so much better healthier conditions all round.
The children went to the village school and thankfully we could still go out on country walks as there was plenty of farms, woods and fields around here where we live. When the children were in school I soon got a job in a small nearby cottage hospital. Where I worked there for some years as a HCA.
I worked at the hospital until it became a residential home, I worked there for a while, then unfortunately it closed, it was then I eventually decided to study with the Open University,studying a degree in English and Languages as I used to like to travel to France on holiday. It seems in life, we sometimes have to be very versatile!
The changing times - A Student Carer
When I first moved here I wanted to live a healthier, simpler way of life, to connect with nature, be away from the town and city, make a life with my family. This was my romantic ideal I suppose, but it wasn't planned it just then sort of happened, that we moved into a rented cottage in the country near my aunt.
My first home here was an old 300 yr old cottage, quite remote on the edge of a quiet hamlet, next to wheat fields and farm lands.
It was very 'rough' to say the least! Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! It was a complete culture shock after living in a town apartment!
We lived in that old cottage and we had to light the fire every day. This was my husbands task to do, I well remember him getting up each day at 5am bleary eyed, going to fetch the wood and coal from the coal shed, up the long garden path, ( even in a winter snow blizzard!) Then having to sweep and clean the fireplace, before laying down the fire and getting it to set alight.
We also had an allotment to look after, although it was mainly vegetables, we didn't quite get into keeping animals or chickens!
I was busy all day long looking after the two lively young children, which was a full time job for me, looking after a toddler and a baby. Cleaning and cooking.
We lived there in that very old cottage for 5 years and I loved it! although I had a bit of postnatal depression after the second baby, he had a heart condition, so I worried a lot. I soon recovered after about a year.
I used to like walking with the children, one in the pram, one in the push chair, wandering about all over the countryside. Even better when they eventually both started walking! We learned all about flowers, birds, animals, trees all sorts of things from the natural world.
The children grew stronger and learned to walk and play, the eldest child helped his dad to stack up all the wood and help to do some work in the garden. He would pedal his little car or his tricycle around the garden collecting fallen apples to put in the carrier basket on the back, he would then pedal back to the house with them.
Once a week we caught the bus to the nearest village 7 miles away, to do all the shopping, even one very kind neighbour gave us a lift on a regular basis.as we had no car, but there was a regular bus service, its just that it was 3/4 of an hour to even walk to the main road to catch the bus!
Those were great times, but unfortunately eventually the cottage deteriorated, fell into disrepair and the landlord didn't want to spend the money on fixing up the windows and stopping the dampness so it had to be condemned.
Reluctantly we had to move into the nearest village, where we had much more amenities, shops and so on.
We found a modern cottage instead, which was owned by a very good housing association so much better healthier conditions all round.
The children went to the village school and thankfully we could still go out on country walks as there was plenty of farms, woods and fields around here where we live. When the children were in school I soon got a job in a small nearby cottage hospital. Where I worked there for some years as a HCA.
I worked at the hospital until it became a residential home, I worked there for a while, then unfortunately it closed, it was then I eventually decided to study with the Open University,studying a degree in English and Languages as I used to like to travel to France on holiday. It seems in life, we sometimes have to be very versatile!
🌲🌲🏡🏘