Is that a chink of daylight I see?

The Lime Walk, Mottisfont Abbey - with a carpet of chionodoxa (Glory of the Snow)

Well... probably not.

When I started drafting this post, the answer to the above question was a fairly confident 'Yes.'

Unfortunately in the past week it has become obvious that here in the UK we are already under threat from COVID again, this time from the Indian variant which is now doubling in case numbers every day. 

I can't emphasise enough how despondent I am. For the first time in 15 months it looked like we might actually be returning to some kind of normal life - from tomorrow we are expecting to being able to have visitors to our home, dine indoors at pubs and restaurants, and actually hug people. But I fear these freedoms will be short-lived.

Some weeks ago when the danger of this variant was becoming more obvious, for political reasons the UK government chose not to include India on the 'red' list which prohibits people from certain countries from entering the UK. The government did however place neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh on the red list. The reason for India's exclusion? It's widely thought this was because the government is in the middle of negotiations for a big trade deal with India, made all the more crucial because of course we no longer have favourable trade relations with Europe. 

This course of action is unfathomable - you'd think after what the UK has been through in the past 15 months, economic rationalism would take a backseat.

OK. Enough of COVID.

National Trust property Mottisfont Abbey

In recent weeks we've been making the most of very dry and mainly sunny spring weather, taking a couple of short jaunts allowable under restrictions. 

A few years ago we visited the very lovely National Trust property Mottisfont Abbey, just under an hour's drive from us in the neighbouring county of Hampshire. Though originally a priory under the Roman Catholic Church, like many of its counterparts the land and buildings were given to a nobleman by King Henry VIII as part of the reformation's mass dissolution in the 16th century. Unusually the building was not torn down but added to, in order to turn it into a country house. 

Skip forward a few centuries and in the early 1930s Maud and Gilbert Russell took possession of Mottisfont, where they entertained a multitude of guests from the artistic world, including James Bond novelist Ian Fleming.

Mottisfont has lovely grounds, one of the most appealing features of which is the 'font' that runs through the property - it's a natural spring with beautifully clear water. We enjoyed our return visit.

A line of clipped Irish yews stand like sentinels on one side of the lawn at the rear of the house

Now that's an urn! Such pleasing curves

I can't tell you excited I become whenever I spot snakeshead fritillaries.
These amazing little beauties are meadow wildflowers that only appear for a brief time in April.
Once abundant across England, they are now sadly quite rare

The rear of the house and the knot garden at Mottisfont

This wonderful mosaic was created by Russian artist Boris Anrep in 1947, as a tribute to Maud
(they were lovers for many years)

Angel mosaic - detail

The font (spring) that runs through Mottisfont's grounds

On the first weekend in May I braved mixing with actual humans at the open-air brocante in Farnham's town centre. It was truly, truly the most wonderful feeling to be browsing antiques and bric-a-brac like we were all normal people, just with masks and mandatory squirts of anti-bac at each stand.

Sunshine and relative freedom for the first time in ages:
brocante on Farnham's West Street

All sorts of quirky, vintage items on sale at this stall

I never cease to be impressed by the creativity of some people.
This lass sells earrings, which she mounts and displays on vintage playing cards - what a great idea!

A few more random photos from little jaunts in the car we've done in the past month.

Fulling Mill, dating from the 13th century and spanning the River Alre at Alresford,
just east of Winchester in neighbouring Hampshire. It's now a private home

Forge Cottage on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Hungerford, Berkshire

A very poor quality photo - apologies! 
But do enjoy the image of this mother swan with three goslings nestling on her back

Of course spring is one of the loveliest seasons in England, as the photos below will evidence. 

'When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils' 
(thank you, William Wordsworth)
- thousands of yellow heads nodding in the breeze at National Trust property Clandon Park

Tulips in bloom in our garden

This magnificent cherry stands in front of one of our neighbour's houses 

My Norwegian spruce, with vibrant green new growth and lovely pink cones

The crabapple tree we planted two years ago, alongside my little Japanese garden

Bluebells and stitchwort are in abundance throughout Surrey at the moment

Brilliant fields of gold - rapeseed provides a dazzling spectacle across the country in spring

We've had the usual feathered / furred visitors and are eagerly awaiting a new clutch of baby pheasants any day. But the highlight of recent weeks has been a tawny owl which, most unusually, visited us in broad daylight one morning and sat on the fence just outside our living room. We often hear owls at night, but have never clapped eyes on one until now.

Mr P and No. 1 Girlie - taking turns to have a drink

Mr P, with five members of his harem. Just lovely, but... the POOP they leave behind! 

Super special visitor one morning in late April - a tawny owl on our garden fence

In closing it's with great pleasure I announce that on 8 April 2021 I officially became a Pom. Yes, I now join the ranks of Australians with dual British citizenship.... Sadly, due to COVID, I was denied the celebration of a ceremony at the Kingston Civic Hall, presentation to the Mayor of Surrey and drinks and canapés laid on. Instead it was just me at the end of a Zoom call, making the affirmation of allegiance and pledge of loyalty by myself at the dining room table.

Why have I spent many (MANY) thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours of frustration pursuing firstly visas, then permanent residence, and finally citizenship? The reasons are many, but the primary factor is because I simply love this country. Bill Bryson - a fellow immigrant to this sceptred isle - in his book The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From A Small Island, expresses it well:

Nothing, and I mean really, absolutely nothing, is more extraordinary in Britain than the beauty of the countryside. Nowhere in the world is there a landscape that has been more intensively utilised - more mined, farmed, quarried, covered with cities and clanging factories, threaded with motorways and railway lines... and yet remains so comprehensively and reliably lovely over most of its extent. It is the happiest accident in history.

In terms of natural wonders, you know, Britain is a pretty unspectacular place. It has no alpine peaks or broad rift valleys, no mighty gorges or thundering cataracts. It is built to really quite a modest scale. And yet, with a few unassuming natural endowments, a great deal of time and an unfailing instinct for improvement, the makers of Britain created the most superlatively park-like landscapes, the most orderly cities, the handsomest provincial towns, the jauntiest seaside resorts, the stateliest homes, the most dreamily-spired, cathedral-rich, castle-strewn, abbey-bedecked, folly-scattered, green-wooded, winding-laned, sheep-dotted, plumply-hedgerow'd, well tended, sublimely decorated 50,318 square miles the world has ever known, almost none of it undertaken with aesthetics in mind, but all of it adding up to something that is, quite often, perfect. What an achievement that is.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself. Every day I remind myself how fortunate I am to live in the British countryside, and I need no longer worry about being booted out of the country.  All the benefits, and the responsibilities, of citizenship are now mine.

Instagram post on the day of my virtual citizenship ceremony

Until next time,
- Maree  xo