we belong

as our travelling comes to an end i wanted to share a little song with you. it is baby's total favourite, it always stops him from screaming when he is cross in the van and although we all now know the words inside out and upside down it will forever remind me of this part of our lives.

Emily Curtis - We Belong

hope you enjoy it! 

X

a good name

in all my excitement i completely neglected to mention our mid week move..

after spending two nights in fairyland, having a small flood, doll building a fairy house and some embarrassed looking school children hiding from us behind trees, we decided we needed to find a more secluded spot.

fairyland is a clearing of grass in the woodland. it has a fire pit at either end and lots of paths in and out of the wood and dell. it is beautiful but it is in constant use. we didn't especially mind the kids running to and fro and enjoying the space but they did seem to mind us, we felt in the way.

when we had been on our day trip it was suggested that behind the straw bale building might be potential spot. i had, if i'm honest, written this off completely. it doesn't have quite the same ring to it does it? but as we started to get used to the place we began to look at it in quite a new light.  

the building is surrounded in grass, a herb garden, a few other flower beds, a living willow play house and another built with sticks and straw all of it enclosed by a living willow fence. it is tucked away without being hidden. there is plenty of space for us to live and play without being in the way of the other groups using the site.

so it is settled.. we will live a short walk from fairyland and we will come up with a good name for our little corner.

a home at last?

aaahhh i don't really know where to start.. i am so excited i can't stay on my seat.. i keep jumping up and down and screaming.

we have somewhere to live.. somewhere so amazing and exciting that i can't really believe that they want us.

we thought originally we would set up in fairyland and it was great there.. the bell tent looked beautiful surrounded by woodland and willow and with fairy lights all round the entrance but it just wasn't practical. really it was a thoroughfare and we felt in the way of the school party that were staying in the main hall. plus the power line i had failed to notice before with the huge "danger of death" sign was slightly off putting.

hang on rewind... where had i got to? we had done a day trip and fallen in love with the place, we had arranged to go back and camp for a week or so. i had a sulky week in ipswich whingeing and waiting.

so.. this wonderful place is actually an education centre of sorts.. there is a main hall that sleeps around fifty, there is a meditation space and a arts and crafts building. there is a straw bale barn, a tree house, it is surrounded by woodlands and meadow. the education team work with kids from nursery age right the way through.. while we were there they were doing the wizard of oz with a group of forty four year olds (thats small kids not middle aged people) .. next week they will be doing earth watch. it is all outdoors, hands on, amazing fiery excitement.

we went to stay for five warmish but rainy nights.. and apart from a small tent flood it was amazing. we got better acquainted with the education and hospitality teams. i did some volunteering in the kitchen and papajoe plaited willow hedges and did some weeding. the kids stripped naked and ran and rolled and splashed in mud. 

at the thought of two more torrential nights and potential floods we disappointingly left early but we are in the south west preparing to go back and this time with our home!

not only are they offering us a space to to put our yurt but a building we could use to run a home ed group and a steiner inspired parent and toddler group. they are completely on board with papajoe building a composting loo and we would have space to grow things and keep animals. we get to help out and be involved in a group of people doing something so fantastic for the local community and even wider.

it is a beautiful and inspiring place just to hang out and i get to bring up my family right in the middle of it!

a post in pictures

our journey so far.... 

                                     

                                                                      

            

         

 

                                                

   

 

    

glum

the last few days have been long and slow. my head and my body are tired. each morning when i first open my eyes i want to close them again. maybe if i sleep the day away, tomorrow i will feel better.

it started just before we left the cottage. getting ready to pack everything back into the van filled me with dread, and the reality was no better. i was emotional and exhausted, shouting at the kids when they got under my feet. they feel it too. doll begged not to leave, even though we have come to grandma and stevie, one of our favourite spots. the twelve days we were still passed so fast and we were leaving them behind with no concrete plan for the next ten.   

jubilee sunday was wet and grey much like i feel. we went into christchurch park to cheer ourselves up but the fair and the stalls were deserted. the town was not much better, soaking wet cut outs of the queen and dripping bunting but empty of life. in felixstowe we hid from the rain under the pier and ate chips. the children ran in and out of the splashing waves. i long to be carefree and paddle in the sea.

monday afternoon the sun was shining, i felt i should step back out into the park and join my family, see their smiling faces as they listen to the bagpipes and watch the parade. once i do, once i walk with the sun on my face i feel the fog starting to lift.

today, the last day of the bank holiday, we are going back to beach. come rain or shine we will drink hot tea and eat sandwiches in the pink hut. tomorrow everyone will return to work and i am still not sure where we will go.

it can not be for much longer now, i am ready to go home.. wherever home may be...

fairyland

what a week of excitement and nerves and sunshine. we have filled our lungs with the countryside everyday since we left london. we have walked and run and climbed and jumped partly thanks to the clearys and high lodge in thetford forest and partly due to the wonderfully hot weather. we have sat in pub gardens and parks and fields and even found time for a swim. but best of all we visited a place i could only of dreamed of living and it may even be a real possibility.

we went to see our potential new home in the middle of last week and i have thought of nothing since. the place itself, the woodlands, the dell, the buildings including a huge old (and in much need of renovation) greenhouse were beautiful. the couple who live on site and run the place with such drive and vision were fantastic and interesting. i love it. i love what they do, what they strive to do. it is everything i could of imagined and more. 

after falling so much in love with it and them i could only hope that they felt they could bare us enough to put with us. i worried constantly that i had been too distacted by the children (and my own excitment) and not chatted enough, not asked or answered enough questions. we emailed they the next day to propose that we camp there for a few nights as a sort of get to know one another, see how it might work trial. it took three of the most anxious days of my life for them to get back to us. i knew they had a busy weekend and the weather was glorious no one was sat indoors at a computer execpt me. checking and checking my emails until it finally arrived. yes, it said yes. camping is a fine idea. 

what huge relief and excitment. this is it. i feel it. i imagine myself there. i imagine my family there. living in fairyland. 

the show yurt

we are stopping off on our grand tour for a posh week in kensington. papajoes little bro runs a lovely pub  http://www.thequeensarmskensington.co.uk/ and we are staying in his flat. we even have tickets to see swan lake on ice at the royal albert hall. how classy! 

we have taken the opportunity to go to loads of museums and to finally visit the show yurt. it is the size we are thinking about so it felt really important to go and stand inside it and really get a feel for the space and the light. also it was built in mongolia. we have been strongly advised to buy an english yurt because of the wood quality so it was interesting to see the wear on one that is six years old. there is a substantial difference in price between local and imported and we need to be sure that we make the right choice. buying local will mean that we need to buy smaller but we are talking about our home so it needs to be able to stand up to some wear and tear.

i have been excited about this post for weeks, i was all ready to write about how positive i felt, how the space was great and the kids loved it but i'm afraid i have a slightly different story to tell.

it was definitely smaller than i had prepared myself for.. i know, i know.. it was always going to be tiny. when you plan to live in a space with a 19ft diameter you are not expecting a palace but when i have tried to imagine the space it was bigger in my head. the walls were lower than i expected, i think that is what did it. we have measured out the floor space before but the low walls enclosed around it shrank the space. the light was fantastic though. i had assumed that with only the small window around the wheel in the roof it would be dark and even the white walls would appear dull but it was wonderful. doll and i secretly planned hanging our disco ball from the centre to fill the space with pink speckled light. mind you, that was the only sense i got out of either of the big kids the whole time we were there. they clambered all over the poor ladies authentic yurt furniture and threw stones about the garden. i resorted to bribing them with chocolate to keep them quiet. 

i came away feeling unsure about what we had signed ourselves up for.. my first real doubts that this was a good idea. after a cup of tea with an old friend, a fantastic burger and a good night sleep (thank you baby, two nights in a row with only one wake!) i am getting on top of it. it is just a lot to process, being homeless and drifting is harder and more tiring than i ever imagined and on top of that we have big, tough decisions to make and so much organising to do. london is a very stressful city, i long for the open flat fens, where you can stretch and think. not long now, roll on monday. two weeks settled, sites to visit, friends to catch up with.. i can't wait.