So, we’ve officially been up here for a whole month, and
I’ve now had a chance to take stock of the situation. It feels like a whole world
away from our old life already, which is not bad; just different. The Monday to
Friday, 9 to 5 slog followed by weekend pub trips, has been replaced by
lambing, house re-wiring, redecorating, cooking, cleaning, moving furniture
around, burning old rubbish that we don’t want, getting guest bedrooms ready
for people visiting, freelance PR work, saving the dustbin men from Mary the
highland coo... and so it goes on. Thus when people ask what I’ve been doing
with my days it’s quite difficult to pinpoint, as no one day is the same.
Interestingly, I can’t help but feel that we’ve taken a step
back in time. Whilst men do the farm work, women do the cooking and cleaning,
and bake cakes; which would be fine if I were slightly more domesticated and
possessed even an iota of traditional gender divide mentality. It would also be
fine if I wasn’t actually working myself! Mealtimes are different too – in my
old life we ate a snack for lunch and a main meal in the evening, whereas here
‘dinner’ is expected to arrive at lunchtime and ‘tea’ is a snack in the
evening. Well this is one convention I won’t bend to – in my world, dinner is
an evening meal and ‘tea’ is something you drink. So admittedly there have been
a few raised eyebrows when, at lunchtimes, I’ve produced cheese, pickle, bread,
lettuce and butter from the fridge, followed by: “Just help yourself!”.
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So it’s Easter weekend, and what are we doing? Celebrating
Fraser’s grandfather’s 100th birthday – 100 years old, an entire century,
and amazingly, he still has all his faculties. What dawned on me when Fraser’s
mum showed me the photo album she’s made for him is that Fraser and I are the
fourth generation here at Shellfield Farm. There are photos of Fraser’s great
Grandfather standing in front of the house from the early 20th century!
The farm itself is over 300 years old, and whilst there’s a fair bit of
cosmetic work that needs doing, it’s all in pretty good nick. It will be lovely
when we restore it to its former glory, and every time I look out the window at
the every-changing landscape I delight in the privilege of living in such a
beautiful place. The weather could be better though – snow in April? Wouldn’t
happen down South, oh no.
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