From the age of 13 to 36 I lived in a 3 story Victorian town house with no garden. As someone who thrives in nature and the outdoors it almost killed my Spirit, and for the entire two decades that I lived there I was miserable.

I eventually bought a small village cottage and although I had the countryside right on my doorstep I still had no real garden. I had a tiny patch of ground at the front in which I grew wild flowers, and I did spend years making a beautiful 30 foot walled patio garden behind the house which at least gave me somewhere to sit………until 2.30pm when the sun disappeared over the roof of the house behind me and I was left in shadow.

Two years ago I moved to my current home and this time I have not only open fields to the rear of the property but a medium sized garden. What an utter delight 🙏🏻 The weather has been almost perfect today and sitting outside watching the wildlife visit, with nothing but the whoosh of wind between tree leaves and the song of birds to break the tranquil silence has been food for my Soul.

I’ve watched Sparrows feeding fluttering fledgelings, Bees drinking from my lawn Clover, a Woodpecker feeding peanut pieces to his not-yet-independent chick, Butterflies alighting on the Cosmos flowers I grew from seed, House Martins stuffing flies into a row of tiny open beaks in their nest under my eaves, the scent of Lavender gentle on the breeze.

I’ve watched in awed joy as Swallows have swooped in from the meadow to drink on the fly from my newly created pond – what I would give to get a picture of that! – and pond skaters skitting across the water. The birds also love it – even the baby Woodpecker has been down there to investigate. I’ve also had an adult Mayfly who chose my home for the 3 short hours it lived. Lucky the Goldfish is, thankfully, still alive and seems to be loving his huge new home.

It would have been my Mum’s birthday this month and the rose bush I bought in her memory is once again in bloom. The first bud always opens during the week of her birthday and it’s almost like she’s speaking to me 🥲

Bare skin is liberated under the shade of my swing seat. Have you ever smelled someone’s skin in warm sunshine? I don’t mean the boiling sun you get abroad which makes you sweaty and sticky, but the gentle English sun on a perfect summer’s day? Even as 60 year old adults we still have the scent of a newborn baby.

My book goes unread on the table next to me. Nothing is more captivating than the wondrous scenes taking place right before my eyes.

But it’s not all sitting and sipping on cold drinks. I potter and deadhead, pull up the odd weed and discover, in the process, an oak tree which has made my garden its home 😮. I fish it out and place it in a pot, sneaking into the meadow in the evening and planting it up in the hedgerow a good distance from my house! There’s something about having soil under my fingernails which makes me feel connected to the earth.

The gravel path by the shed is badly neglected and I spend some time on my knees pulling out thistles. I’ve bought creeping thyme to go between the cracks in the stepping stones, along with lemon thyme which will release its citrus scent when walking past. I’m kept company by a field mouse, who appears to snatch a stalk off my primrose before dashing back to his hidey hole.

I pick the first of the blackcurrants, watched by a resident Blackbird, promising him I won’t take them all although he doesn’t promise back 😉, and pick Rhubarb hot from the sun to make a crumble for tea which is eaten with lashings of custard. Is there anything more nourishing than harvesting food you’ve grown yourself and eating it the same day?

All this in just a few hours inside my own home.

When I was a young woman I was unhappy but couldn’t really put my finger on why. Now I know I was living a life which was detrimental to my authentic self. A life that other people wanted me to live or that made other people happy. It’s taken me four decades to finally live a life which brings me joy. It’s quiet and gentle and unassuming……….and beautiful.