Easing in to country living..
Did I ever tell you I left the commuter belt to head to
deepest darkest Sussex? I went straight from everyone having a full face of
makeup and probably having already hit the gym before the 8.30 drop to the
extreme. Makeup is rarely seen except
among the working mums and pyjamas shoved in wellies is a perfect norm
(apparently it makes mucking our the horses or feeding the chickens in the early mornings much more manageable)
Nearly everyone here own a horse or chickens or a dog and
the hunter wellies down here? Well they’re coated in so much mud you can’t
guess their brand! A sharp contrast from a pickup in our previous village where
a mum was bemoaning that her very lovely wellies couldn’t possibly be allowed
to walk across the field to school, it had of course rained the night before!
So after a year I’m starting to submerge myself into Sussex
life. It’s a whirl of gaiety would you believe? With harvest fairs, autumn
shows, apple pressing on top of the everyday events its fabulous to be so much
outdoors and part of a community.
That little window in the tower? Thats where I ring! |
My latest hobby? Bell ringing! When we first moved down
here every Sunday morning the windows were thrown wide to hear the bells ring
out. It’s an incredible sound, English country bells. Did you know nowhere else
in the world has the same? Perhaps a few common wealth countries have but
otherwise that’s it’s just us. Beautiful no? I was a little in awe of heading
off on Monday as I fully expected to be the youngest by about 50 years. But no
there were children from my sons school there who happily peal and learn for an
hour. They’ve been coming for two years and are amazing. There were farmers
there who pop in between harvesting, a lovely national trust volunteer, even a
gentleman who drives over an hour to get here and have a play. All down apparently
to our amount of bells (8) and our caller! I have to say it was exhausting, you
aren’t allowed to look up and your feet must stay firmly on the floor to save
you being whipped across a room if someone weren’t holding on properly. I
focused firmly on my instructors’ shirt buttons and tried to listen in time to
when it was my go.
Being slightly fearful of heights I didn’t enjoy my visit up
to the bells. I kept having visions of scenes out of Midsomer murders or Miss Marple! And I did have to mentally ignore the fact that there was 8 tons
of metal over my head the whole evening but gosh it was fun! I’m off to help
them out over the harvest fair on Saturday and if you live locally open your
windows Monday and listen to one bell ringing on its own and probably slightly
out of time, that’ll be me!
Love this! So pleased you are beginning to immerse yourself in village life! Bell ringing sounds a hoot! xxx
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