A small Christmassy jumble
mostly. And a cottage for sale, and a shop in Marseille
I was going to post tomorrow but I’ve just been reminded that we have a scheduled power cut from 9am to 4pm. Also scheduled snow. I’m hoping that wearing gloves and a duvet and lighting all the candles and fires will make the day feel poetic rather than like Tudor role play (it’s a 16th century house), but I have my doubts.
I also really hope the boiler, which is not in its prime and has just been mended, fires up again when the power comes back on. Also, why won’t the red-hot top bit of a wood burner boil a kettle in under three hours? It’s absolutely strange - tepid water at best, hence no tea once the flask runs out, hence the potential for deep woe.
What with all of that, this is a rather more impromptu and jumbly post than the one I had planned - well, I say ‘planned,’ it’s never quite that, either - but hopefully none the worse for it.
A dreamy cottage
Speaking of old houses: on the off chance that what one of you really wants to do is buy a perfect cottage in Suffolk in a completely magical and ancient - I would go as far as saying quasi-mystical - setting, our friends are selling theirs. It is gorgeous, ready to move into, and it is on the edge of an extraordinary 150-acre piece of common land, now managed as a nature reserve and bursting with e.g. green-winged orchids and e.g. millions of owls. And cows grazing! And sometimes horses just pottering about gently. And acres of wildflowers. It is a really beautiful spot (very near Walnut Tree Farm, for Roger Deakin fans). Blissfully remote, but also not because you’re a 10-minute drive from the station and the train to London (1.5 hours). The listing is here. It comes with its own bees! I don’t think it’s going to stick around for long - one person drove up from the West Country with a tape measure.
PS in case you missed it earlier in the year, here’s my guide to moving from a city to the country. And now I’ll be quiet because the first rule of living in Suffolk is you never talk about living in Suffolk and I can’t break it again.
