We’ve been living in the country for about 3 months now but until now it has felt impossible to put into words why we decided to make the change. It felt like a snap decision, something Greg and I decided out of the blue, but in reality it was months – if not years – in the making. The prices and pressures of living in London had started to get on top of us and the lack of space was starting to become a problem.
So we moved! We came to the country and to be totally honest there have been ups and downs; the lack of Starbucks walking distance from the house is hard for Greg to get his head around and we miss the friends we don’t see as often, but the day we started the process to make our front garden into a meadow made every doubting brain cell shrink into insignificance. Seeing Etta’s eyes light up when the baby tractor was delivered, watching her run through the mud with Cat (the dog) and play in the garden from the moment the tractor arrived until I had to drag her in for dinner made us happier than we could have ever imagined.
Having said that, the day wasn’t without it’s hiccups – what days are when you have two under 2?? – we couldn’t operate the tractor at all at the beginning (Greg doesn’t even have a license to drive a car!!) But the lovely Lester, who delivered our tractor was amazing and he helped us figure the whole thing out!
We used the rotavator and stone burying attachment for the tractor to flatten, rotavate and (of course) bury the stones in the front garden so that we would have the perfect surface to plant our meadow seed.
I can’t wait for the day Etta and Ezra are playing in the meadow in the front garden, building forts and playing hide and seek. Starting that process has made living in the country so much more exciting and having the tractor to ride on
is going to be the most fun!!
In the end even Greg and Etta were driving the tractor!!
And of course Ezra slept through the whole thing. He doesn’t know how lucky he is now but one day he will be the coolest kid in school with a tractor at home ;)
With thanks to Tom at Farm Tech Supplies, who supplied us with a Fieldmaster 20hp Compact Tractor and a Winton Stone Burier. Thanks also to Lester from Farm Tech who delivered the tractor and showed us how to set it up and use it with great patience.
