My Happy Place

 I love London, I really do, but I also love escaping it for the peace and quiet of the countryside. My mother in law lives in a small village in Norfolk and we're staying with her over the Easter weekend. I've always loved the thought of living in the countryside. Hubby, who grew up here, tells me it's not always so fun but it's hard to persuade someone who grew up on a diet of Enid Blyton books that it's not picnics, ginger beer and collecting eggs from local hens all the time.

We try to visit the mother in law for a visit at least once a month but the beginning of this year has just been nightmarishly busy, with a sprinkling of house hunting and packing thrown in for good measure, so this is the first time we've come for a visit this year. We got the train from London on Thursday evening, to give us three full days here over the long weekend. I always notice the quiet as soon as we arrive. We don't live in an incredibly noisy area in London but I suppose you get used to the background hum and don't notice all of the hubbub - the trains and buses in the distance, and the sound of people spilling out of bars and pubs on a Friday or Saturday night. But I really notice the peace when we arrive here, lying in bed on the first night the silence is almost deafening.

Coming here is slightly different for me than for the mister. He usually has to spend at least one of the days trimming hedges or cleaning out gutters for his mum but I can curl up in her lovely conservatory, looking out at the birds in the garden (there was a pheasant strutting around today!) and reading a book or a magazine, with copious cups of tea. I've kept that thought in my mind over the last few weeks, when work has been particularly busy. My new issue of the Simple Things arrived just yesterday so I saved it to enjoy this morning and the content seems designed just for me this month - a veg patch could-do list, yoga (which I really want to get back into) and a recipe for cardamom banana bread which I can't wait to try...hopefully a straight gluten free flour swap will work fine.

The next few days ahead should involve nothing more taxing than what to have for dinner, when to open another bottle of red wine and from Sunday onwards, chocolate! Oh how I've missed you.

Hope you all enjoy wonderful Easter weekends!