The Cottage Smallholder

A beautiful lead toy cow from my collection that we sold this month on eBay

I didn’t plan my month in the country. At first I just wanted to take a few days off from blogging. Then it became a week – two weeks and more. Then I decided that I’d take the entire month off.

August 12th this year was The Cottage Smallholder’s sixth birthday. Six years of blogging, finding new friends and learning. Blogging ultimately means shifting stones. There’s no point in just being a town crier.

When I started blogging I had no advice, no map or planned route. I had no idea that there might be treasure involved.

I’ve since discovered that blogging can be an amazing journey. I’ve travelled through unimagined landscapes met and communicated with people way outside my frame of reference. Blogging for me has replaced the need for that round the world trip that I could never take. It has forced me to wake up, grow and develop. It has provided a gentle light where there were just shadows before.
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Over the past few weeks I’ve really missed blogging and communicating with you. Everywhere that I looked I found a quirky detail that inspired me to blog and share. But I deliberately put these aside for later – I wanted to see what would happen to me if I took a stealthy break from blogging.

I created several new recipes – photographed and stored away for the future. They’re good ones too. I must admit that often it was good to slide under my duvet with the Min Pins and a good book and not feel the need to blog. I didn’t touch the garden, allotment or any of those pressing tasks that I’d planned to do. Perhaps I just needed the space to play a bit, take a holiday and digest the last six years.

Anyway I’m so pleased to be typing this post now. Whenever I go abroad I always reckon that I’m the one person to be relieved to touch down and head off home. I love travelling but I enjoy living in our cottage more.

I’m delighted to be back at the keyboard and looking out beyond the gate at the end of our drive.