Getting older, if not wiser

Eek! I turned 29 last weekend - and as a surprise present my girlfriend whisked me away for a magical weekend in the English countryside. I’m not usually very good at keeping surprises a secret myself – I get too overexcited and always spill the beans prematurely – but J kept me guessing right up until we got onto the train.

The sun came out early last Thursday morning, as if to reflect the lighthearted happiness and excitement I was feeling. I’d been working solidly for nine days without a break due to our Annual Conference taking place the previous weekend and was pretty close to exhaustion. When I met J at Birmingham New Street station we boarded a train heading south to a place called Kemble – this name being the only information I’d managed to squeeze out of her. Within the hour we’d passed through sunny green hills and jumped off the train at the little rural station in Gloucestershire.

It turns out J had rented a perfect little hut for us for the weekend, based on a beautiful organic farm called Abbey Home Farm. The wooden hut, with no electricity or running water, is hidden away inside a little glade full of pine and oak trees. It sits on the edge of a pond teaming with wildlife like moor hens and dragonflies flitting around in the sunshine. The hut itself was very basic – just one room with a little porch on which we could sit out in the sunshine and look out over the pond. In the hut there was a mattress, a table and chairs, a wood-burning stove to keep us warm and heat water, and a gas ring for cooking. Behind the hut we had access to water from a bore hole and a little further away were a fire pit with seating, and a compost toilet in the woods. Perfect, beautiful, peaceful simplicity and tranquillity.

Now, I know that to many people this might not sound like the most romantic weekend away, but that’s precisely why J and I are so right for each other! Neither of us can think of anything more relaxing or wonderful than spending a weekend on an organic farm among the wildlife – just living life simply. We spent our time walking around the farm, across fields where we’d spot bunny rabbits, hares and foxes, as well as trying to keep out of the cows way. We wandered up and down the disused railway track which led to the farm garden, farm shop and café – along its banks were hedges and bushes dripping with fresh berries like blackberries, elderflower and sloes which we picked and ate to our hearts’ content. We explored the Woodland Walks created by the farm owners, and came across a stone circle bathed in warm September sunshine.

In the evenings, without the distractions of television a

nd broadband to zombify us, we settled into the comforting pastimes of old – conversation, reading by candlelight, playing cards, writing diaries, drinking wine or listening to the wireless 

radio. In fact, J read aloud Jane Austen to me, in much the same way that in Emma’s time they would sit in the parlour and read to each other or play cards. When the natural light o

utside would fade, our wood-burning stove and wall-mounted candles cast a warm flickering glow and shadows across the huts’ ochre walls every evening. On the first night we piled so much wood into the 

stove that we were sweating and opening windows after a couple of hours – but we learnt to use it more moderately in the days that followed – to provide warmth and light, and also to heat the water for washing dishes or bathing.

One thing which struck pure happiness into my heart was being so far away from the city – every part of our weekend was about being in nature – pure and untamed, quiet. Every path leading around our pond and hut was teeming with life – from high nettles and brambles, to the little rodents and insects scampering below them. We were surrounded by animals of all kinds – majestic birds like buzzards and owls, woodpeckers, moorhens and robins; insects like dragonflies, beetles or spiders spinning golden webs of sunlight and dew; and everything from mice and voles up to the wild deer and badgers living right next to our hut. It all served to remind me of the rich biodiversity we have here in the UK – something I’m rarely reminded of living in the Big City as I do – and the value and importance of my role in helping to protect it.

The farm itself was a truly inspiring example of what is possible in the food supply chain – producing high quality, organic local food and making it accessible to the local community. Abbey Home Farm has its own award-winning shop selling most of its produce fresh from the large gardens and polytunnels, or freshly butchered meat from the fields. They bake breads, make their own soups and chutneys, churn their own butter and cheeses and pasteurise their own milk. Did I mention the locally-sourced wines, organic ales and ciders too? And then there’s the Veranda Café – a glorious space carved out of green oak from the farm in which you can enjoy delicious veggie meals as you look out over the fields where it was grown. J and I took a tour of the veggie gardens and sampled many of the delights the café has to offer.

Another wonderful discovery this weekend was their Yurt Eco-camp 

secreted away in another set of woods near the farm. It’s the ideal setting for a much bigger birthday that’s due next year – the big 3 0. My plan, formulated this weekend, is to hire the whole yurt camp which sleeps about 20 people and bring together some of my nearest and dearest friends to celebrate life. I’m imagining lots of campfires, home-made music and entertainment (perhaps a puppet show from the lovely Bronia?), delicious barbeques and meals from produce fresh from the gardens, long walks and midnight treks to the stone-circle for jigging and jangling. Sounds good huh?

I still can’t quite believe how wonderful this weekend was – truly the best birthday present I could have wished for (apart from the autobiography of Barack Obama – another present from J which I haven’t been able to put down since I opened it!). Today, at work, my mind keeps wondering back to the candlelit glow on J’s rosy cheeks; the sun streaming in over a foggy pond as we opened up the hut door on my birthday morning; cooking fresh Abbey Home Farm produce over an open fire; or our berry-stained fingers and lips walking home from the farm. The weather was on our side too – a high September sun shone all weekend-long, making me deliriously happy. It seems fitting that today, back in my office, the clouds have once more descended and a gentle rain is falling on the grey streets of Birmingham.

Thank you J! Thinking ahead to next year, I realise now I can’t wait to turn 30!