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| The courtyard at Park Farm Cottage |
Kind of a low, strangled moan.
That's the sound of envy, delight and anguish all rolled up into one - and it's emanating from me.
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| The outdoor eating area |
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Some backyard, huh?
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| Our needy little charges for the week - Tilly and Daisy |
This past week we have been housesitting and dogsitting, for one of Kevin's cycling friends and his family who are taking their annual summer holiday in the south of France.
Their home is a rented cottage on the Wotton Estate, which in itself is quite a coup. The Estate is just a few miles outside of Dorking, nestled in some of Surrey's most beautiful countryside. Rental opportunities are rare and prospective tenants undergo a fairly laborious vetting process.
The charm offensive begins as you turn off the main road near Westcott, onto Balchins Lane, and you are confronted with this Hobbit-like garden wall...
... and then pass a string of gorgeous houses like this one, with its hipped roofline and dormer windows. I'll bet the inhabitants sleep very well up there, probably under Yves Delorme bed linen with an astronomical threadcount.
It's not really evident in these photos but Balchins Lane is only wide enough for one car, with enormous hedges on either side.
After a short while you turn onto one of the Lane's tributaries that wind through The Wotton Estate, all private roads, and enter into a lengthy tunnel of green. For a good two or three minutes, the following photos are your view.
Eventually you emerge into open farmland, and finally another couple of twists and turns bring you to Park Farm Cottage.
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| Summer blooms and a bounteous fig tree |
The house itself is very cute externally, with a lovely garden. Sadly the interior is a bit daggy and strangely does not make the most of the outlook with its low ceilings, relatively small windows and in fact a complete lack of windows in one section of the dwelling that would have the best views... if only there weren't a solid brick wall there!
But it's really the location - and the fact that it stands in complete isolation to any other dwelling (save for the more grand Park Farm House to which the cottage is annexed) - that makes it unique. Here in the crowded south east of England, isolation is not a word that is used very often.
Smack bang in the glorious Surrey Hills, with views across to Ranmore Common, this is the ideal environment for dogs.
Our two charges were 13-year-old Daisy and 7-year-old Tilly, charming little Norwich Terriers who manage to inveigle their way into our hearts within a few minutes.
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| Out for one of our two daily walks on the hillside opposite the property - you can just see the house behind the yellow fields |
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| Historic outbuildings at the end of the driveway |
We loved having to venture out twice a day with Daisy and Tilly. Despite age and short little legs, we were impressed with these dogs' stamina and vigour, Daisy's particularly.
Oh, glorious Surrey!
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A channel of unharvested wheat adjacent the newly harvested field
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Wild blackberries coming into ripeness
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| Sunset with cow parsley |
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| Woodland surrounding the cottage on The Wotton Estate |
Whilst in the area of course we took the opportunity of exploring some of the local watering holes, and one evening after work we had a very pleasant meal at The Pheasant At Buckland, just near Betchworth.
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| The Pheasant at Buckland - conveniently halfway between my workplace and the cottage |
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| Yours truly enjoying a crisp white from Washington State. Yes, impressed with The Pheasant! Great wines, good food and amazing staff |
Speaking of pheasants, we happened to be resident at Park Farm Cottage right at the time hundreds - and I do mean hundreds - of baby pheasants were coming into maturity. Apparently pheasant chicks are able to run and feed for themselves immediately they hatch, and the ones on the Estate must have been about 12 weeks old. Not a parent in sight, just adolescents running wild.
Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any decent photos of this phenomenon but my journey from the cottage out to the main road was slowed to about a quarter of its normal speed each day, by the hazard of usually ten or twenty of these cute little critters. They took quite some time to grasp the concept of ducking into the foliage on the side of the road, rather than running ahead of the car. One by one they would eventually peel off.
It was like a modern dance production for pheasants.
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| If you look closely you can see several adolescent pheasants in the field. There had been about 30, but they scattered as we walked past |
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| The slow crawl out to the main road, following the pheasants |
Oh blimey, the walking around here! Each day we would set out on a different path with the dogs, or on our own, and explore another part of the Estate.
One of the things I love about England is the amount of interesting things to see whilst just ambling about the countryside - particularly for an Antipodean. Back home, any building more than a century old is celebrated. Because of its lengthy history of civilisation Britain is chock-a-block full of rustic buildings, ruins, churches, bridges and gardens that are fascinating to my eyes. The Wotton Estate does not disappoint on this score, with numerous farm buildings being several hundred years old, and St John The Evangelist church dating back to Saxon times.
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| Just a 10-minute stroll up the hill - the church of St John the Evangelist dates back to Saxon times, but most of it now is Victorian-era restoration |
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| Celtic cross in the churchyard |
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| Detail of wood carving on the porch |
Throughout most of our stay the weather was warm and sunny, so much so that I was wishing for a bit of rain for a change. People don't believe me when I tell them I moved here primarily because I love England's climate, but it's true - you won't find me complaining about the rain and the grey, ever.
Anyway, after several weeks of proper summer weather I got my wish on the last two days. On our final morning we stoically set out with the dogs despite a howling gale and driving rain.
Being creatures so very low to the ground, they were FILTHY by the time we got back to the house. There was much fun to be had attempting to get the worst of the muck off their undercarriages, and from between their toes.
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| Mud!!!! |
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| Showers over the Wotton Estate |
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| Ripening elderberries |
The only downside to being in this 'remote' (by English standards) location was the absolutely appalling internet. It's not that I can't live without it - and I think I would have coped better if there was nothing at all. In our modern age there are very few things more maddening than buffering, buffering, buffering...
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| Kevin and the very emotionally needy Tilly |
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| Every evening it was a battle of wills to see who got to sit closest to Kevin. Daisy always won |
And so we bid goodbye to Park Farm Cottage yesterday.
We'll miss the luxury of having no neighbours (but for the family in Park Farm House), of living right in the Surrey Hills, and of course we already miss the two little poochies.
Incredible how fortunate some people are, to live this way - with all this wide, open space when the rest of us are crammed in like sardines.
*sigh*
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| The field opposite the cottage - just before it was ploughed |
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| The field viewed from the house - after harvesting |
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| Got enough room there, Daisy and Tilly? |
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| The cream coloured building is Park Farm House - our sole neighbours for quite some distance |
Until next time,
- Maree xo
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