Resistance was futile when an opportunity crossed my path. Snapped up in a heartbeat, my suitcase, reading and study material all packed, I felt grateful being in a position to return to live and breathe Wiltshire’s special countryside over December 2020 and beginning of January 2021.

ENVELOPED BY WILTSHIRE COUNTRYSIDE

Each day from Green Farm, I explored either by car or foot the designated paths: through open fields, space that made me feel safe, rolling hills, greeted by livestock at every muddy, frosty turn. Solitude at its best, rarely encountering another soul. An exploration along Caen Hill Locks; the longest continuous flight of locks in the county with 29 locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal, between Rowde and Devizes. Stonehenge, a prehistoric temple; the stones are aligned with the movements of the sun. Sandy Lane village is known for its well-preserved thatched cottages. As the day turns into night, a log fire to warm the cockles of the heart…

SOLITUDE AT ITS BEST

The simplicity and deliberate seclusion of living in the country render almost all material desires useless. I felt the sense of perpetual novelty and change while immersed in nature completely invigorating.

FOR A NEW BEGINNING
by JOHN O’DONOHUE 

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.