Settling In.

We have been in Moreton In Marsh now since last Thursday night. It is now Tuesday. Life here is settling into a gentle rhythm which I, I think we, really enjoy. As Liam said to Ngila, it looks like Fern Hollow, a fictional town in a book that we read to the kids. We started off just wandering around oohing and awing at the picturesque stone cottages. That has been replaced with certain habits that are beginning to take shape.

Morning is usually announced by the sounds of the deliveries arriving at the store down stairs. This is not terribly disruptive. I like to get up early anyway and Shush seems to be able to ignore them. I get up and put on the kettle and read or look on the computer until Sheelagh gets going. The morning moves quite slowly as we do our reading, sip our tea and coffee and talk about what we should do that day. We usually have a couple of errands to do. We shop for the day here. We like the butcher and on Tuesdays there is a large street market outside where we can get bread and veggies and shoelaces today.

We then try to go for a walk of about 5 or 6 miles across the fields to a neighbouring town. These towns, which also have charm to spare, have a pub where we can stop for a half of some local lager for me and a bitter lemon and ice for Shush. We explore the town and take pictures, and then start off back, hopefully on a different route.

We have a library to use, and on weekends we have found a great church to attend. St. David's is a C of E. It has young energetic devout pastors. There is a large selection of places to have a Sunday roast. The Swann Inn is an all you can eat for 8.95 pounds. They have pork, lamb and beef roasts with excellent vegetables and gravy. It's a good thing we walk. Another reason to walk is Tilley's Tea House. We have set ourselves the task of sampling everything in her display case. Tough work, but someone.....

So far we have booked one music night here in town and 3 plays, one in Oxford and two in Cheltenham. There are all kinds of lectures, garden tours and classes which we could take if we so chose. It occurred to me that, with the good food, exercise and mental stimulation around here, this is a very good life style. Two months will pass all too quickly.