This month…
Studies indicate that increasing numbers of young people are keen to move to the countryside. It seems that our restricted lifestyles over the past year have opened their eyes to the fact that the gentle pleasures of rural life could be worth trading for the quick-fix conveniences of the city. I recently read an interview with a group of millennials who’d already made the move. They revealed that, for them, the benefits of country living go well beyond more affordable housing and cleaner air. They’d happily given up an urban lifestyle centred around work and socialising and replaced it with a more purposeful existence. And they’d developed a greater sense of wellbeing as a result.
As someone who moved back to the country in my late twenties, I understand their viewpoint. A takeaway coffee or home-delivery pizza may not be on tap 24/7 in the sticks, but there’s something deeply rewarding in discovering creativity and spontaneity in the routines that come with rural life. Which is why, in the past few months, I’ve tweaked my own daily rhythms. I’ve taken to watching the birds as I sip my first cup of tea; pausing at a different stage on every dog walk to really ‘see’ the landscape; savouring the daily ritual of collecting logs from the store and filling the basket beside the woodburner. It’s small stuff that makes a big difference to my sense of wellness – a kind of country version of the instant gratification of the takeout coffee!
We’re all been prompted to re-evaluate and recalibrate our lives at some point – and we have inspirational stories on that theme in this issue. On page 86, we salute Carla Sealey, for whom “a perfect storm of personal, domestic and work crises” prompted her to become a potter; we meet a teacher-turnedharpmaker (page 64) and on page 94, we talk to a resourceful fisherman who reinvented his business to stay afloat during the pandemic. But the last word must go to Dartmoor Shepherd duo Lewis Steer and Flora Searson, featured on page 56. I first met them at our Country Living Fair and was blown away by their enterprise and energy. How exciting to find first-generation sheep farmers who are preserving rare breeds and also running a highly successful business selling rugs and footstools. And they’re still in their early twenties! In these challenging times, their story is an inspiration to us all.