Where Badgers Visit and Owls Call: Life in Our Welsh Country Home

It's 5am on the first morning in our new home and I am sitting in the conservatory, my hands cupped around a steaming mug of tea, watching a badger gorge on bird seed from the feeder he has tipped over and raided. 

I move to re-adjust to a more comfortable position, alerting the badger to my presence. He freezes, our eyes lock for a second, and he turns tail and lumbers off across to the far end of the garden before disappearing through the hedgerow into the field beyond. A small mouse darts out of the undergrowth to steal a few sunflower seeds left behind by the badger.

At dusk I watch bats zig-zag across garden hunting for insects and at night, just before I slip into sleep, I hear the mournful call of an owl. the I feel like I may just be living in a Brambly Hedge storybook!

I had forgotten the deep, beautiful silence of the countryside. This morning, that silence was punctuated by birdsong and the sheep having a chat to one another, no doubt discussing their plans for the day.

It's been 10 days since we moved into Hillbank (the house name reminds me of Beatrix Potter's 'Hilltop Farm'), our home in a small village in the Welsh hills. It feels comfortable, like pulling on a favourite well-worn comfortable jumper on a chilly autumn morning. The house embraces us with its warm wooden flooring and deep inglenook fireplace which promises to wrap us in warmth and cosiness throughout autumn and winter.

The garden is wild. It has not had a proper caretaker for many years. The grass has been allowed to romp freely into the flowerbeds, the rushes have taken over the pond to the point that you would not know that it is there, and the moss in the lawn could provide a hundred florists with all they need for their floral arrangements for months. 

It will be a labour of love to restore the garden to what it once was.

Last week I picked up a few supplies at the small farm shop in the village and met some lovely ladies. "You must join the WI when we reconvene in September!"; and, "We have a choire, do you sing?", then, "Oh we are short of a soprano, I do hope you will join us".

I can see that life will be rich and full here. I am very much looking forward to being part of village life.

This home would have been a perfect homeschooling home! It was the first thing my daughter said to me when she popped over for a visit. She's right, it would have been 😊.

But this home is the start of a new chapter for us. It's a home that anchors us as we start new ventures. My husband has semi-retired - that is, he has left the hotel industry and will be starting his own artisan food and coffee shop. I have finally started writing again and am working with a mentor as I journey to get published. 

I don't know what the future holds, do any of us? But I know that for this next season in our lives, we are exactly where we should be. It won't be our 'forever' home as we are just renting 'Hillbank' while we build our businesses, and I still have a hankering to live in the beautiful Lake District. 

But for now, I know that this is the right place for us to roost. It is near to our adult children, both of whom are in their own seasons of building and establishing their lives and who appreciate the support and proximity that this home offers to us all.

It will be our place of recovery after a really difficult and emotional home sale process (please do pray for us that our house sale goes through and does not fall at the final hurdle once again). Our place of gentle adjustment as we move out of suburbia and back into the countryside, losing many of the conveniences that come town living. 

It's a place gentle reconnection as we adjust to what life looks and feels like with both us working in a self-employed capacity. I'm grateful that we will get to be the caretakers of this beautiful home and garden and to write 'Under a Welsh Sky' for a season 💕