Pause for thought…

Notes from The Old Forge Self Catering Cottages & Glamping closed 23 March 2020.
We are closed now.  Our business which we have built up over 30 years.  The place is eerily quiet, not only no guests but no grandchildren.  Our donkey is wondering why they are not scrambling onto his back and our dogs look out of the window waiting for them.  I saddle up Lily my Arabian mare.  She was born here and is beautiful.  I set off up over Fontmell Down and then head up into the woods.  The wild garlic is in abundance and I stop to gather a bundle to make wild garlic pesto.  There is no income now so I forage.  We have hens so I make quiches, cakes and frittatas.  The yolks are golden yellow.  I still have flour in the cupboard so I bake bread.  Spelt and rye, granary, sunflower.  The loaves sit by the aga.Lily is startled by a pheasant.  She leaps into the air and I grab hold of her mane.  Above us the buzzards are soaring.  They do their loud mewing peeioo to each other.  We ride through the valley now and the ewes and their lambs watch us with inquisitive eyes.  There are primroses on the banks.
Lucy.