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.
Moving to the country
Today is the ninth anniversary of us moving to Suffolk. Before that I’d been in London for 45 years, and before that I’d still only ever lived in cities.
