Posh Bird in the Country

Had a few days borrowing a friend's house in the country for the tail-end of half-term. Proper country-like. Dogs, chickens, guinea pigs, fish, cats and tiny kittens to feed and an ancient pony to cuddle (that was the instruction). An Aga, on which I cooked endlessly - red velvet cake, pumpkin soup (even roasting my own pumpkin seeds - only to leave the soup on the Aga all night so that the cream in it curdled, rendering it totally inedible), roast chicken, home made pizza, home made bread. Plus there were chilly but bright walks on the farmland, around the woods, shouting at the dogs. All bracing and refreshing stuff.

But the bit I'd forgotten about being in the country - what it's like living there as opposed to just weekending - is that you are never alone. There was a constant stream of people coming in to deliver vegetables, collect vegetables, check the post, mend the Aga, dig the ditch, test the tractor, plough the fields, do the washing, pop in for a chat, drop off something from the church that 'might be of interest', check on the pony, sell a granny....Well, they might have done that last one. I think by that point I'd gone upstairs to hide under the duvet. The city might have a population of millions but it's a much less crowded place to be.