‘IT MAKES SENSE’
The Talbot-Ponsonbys shielded together
Vanessa Talbot-Ponsonby, mother of three and entrepreneur:
We never envisaged living as a family until midMarch, when we made the decision to shield together at my in-laws’ home in Hampshire. It makes sense – our three children can spend time with their grandparents and my husband and I can keep his parents company.
As their home is a historic house which sleeps 26, space isn’t an issue: my in-laws have a separate flat within the house and we live in three of the rooms around them. The children can run around making noise and probably a bit too much mess. We soon realised, however, that with a group of this size, division of labour is key. We’ve fallen into a relaxed rhythm: the grandparents help with the children while my husband and I work; we form smaller groups for cleaning and gardening and then we take it in turns to cook and wash up.
It’s also important that no one is stuck with the same role all the time – there is always something to do and it could become overwhelming. My husband and I do our own weekly shopping to keep things simple but we chip in for fruit and vegetable deliveries – everything has to be washed due to shielding – and we contribute to running costs.
In a household like this, someone needs to be in charge and for us it is my mother-in-law. Her insurmountable energy keeps the whole thing going; I’ve never known her not busy. It’s hard to imagine returning to our former life in London – we could live here forever.
It’s wonderful for us and the children to be part of an extended family group but it also works for my in-laws; they’ve been able to watch my youngest’s first steps and hear her first words. As my husband says, quality time together like this simply isn’t possible over a single weekend.
Langrish House is available for exclusive use and special events; langrishhouse.co.uk; @ langrishhousepetersfield