Tuesday 7 July 2009

Town Mouse, Country Mouse

Last weekend I spent a glorious day in Rowland's Castle, an incredibly pretty Hampshire village complete with a perfect green that plays host to a traditional style village fair:


I went with a friend and we had a lovely time supping Pimms, wandering round the various stalls, watching the tug of war, eating local sausages and casting an eye over the competition entries in the marquee such as these pretty roses and Victoria sponges:


It made me very wistful about village life. There was such an incredibly strong sense of community and I began to think in a romantic fashion that I could happily spend my days baking cakes and making jam in a place like Rowland's Castle. The thought of being surrounded by fields instead of tower blocks becomes more and more appealing the older I get.

And then on the other hand I have been rekindling my love of London of late. Last week I went to see a the Royal Opera's production of La Traviata screened live in Trafalgar square. We took a picnic and sat on the ground with hundreds of other Londoners and watched opera as London buses circled around the square and the sun set over us.

I have also been enjoying London's foodie scene a lot recently what with all the credit crunch offers that are around at the moment. Last night Mr Crafty took me to Galvin at Windows for my birthday. The food was just incredible and the views over London are amazing (the restaurant is on the 28th floor of the Park Lane Hilton). All in all a lovely evening:


Whilst Rowland's Castle is extremely pretty, London can sometimes present you with a view that just takes your breath away. I just wish my camera could do this sunset that I saw over the Thames the other evening proper justice:

I am so very torn as to where I want to end up. As I sit in South East London village life appears to me like an idyll and the thought of a pretty house with a big garden that we could gradually do up and make our own is very appealing but whilst London can sometimes be a frustrating place to live am I really ready to give up all it has to offer?

Decisions for another day but at some point Mr Crafty and I are going to have to decide where to put down our roots. I wonder whether we will end up Town or Country mice.

6 comments:

  1. Oh I really want to go to a country fair now! Oh Victoria sponge and tea!

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  2. I do love london though despite the naughty postman strike.

    I love my leafy little idyll in the middle of the city.

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  3. Oh that fair looks so lovely. I love villages but I'm not sure I could cope with it full-time... but then at the same time whenever I visit London I love it so but am not sure I could live there full-time either. For the now, Edinburgh is a happy medium – a big small place ;)

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  4. I need me some of that cake with the strawberries! MMMMMMM! I am from a village in Scotland, so I find big places daunting. I live just outside Glasgow now, which is fine, and I lived in Dundee, which is a big town thats been called a city really. London for me is just too huge!

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  5. I feel the same way! I think it would be ideal to have the best of both worlds - a place in the city and one in the country. We can all dream, right? :)

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  6. Such a Londoner at heart myself and these pics make me so happy!

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