COVER STORY
Elmgrove House
“LIFE GETS IN THE WAY WITH THE FARM GETTING INTO TOP GEAR AS THE SUMMER ROLLED IN, AND THOSE CRATES YOU SWORE YOU WOULD TACKLE NEXT SUNDAY STARE AT YOU FOR WEEKS ON END.” rolled in, and those crates you swore you would tackle next Sunday stare at you for weeks on end. In the meantime, we are getting to grips with how the heating works, why the shower and the washing machine can’t run at the same time because the water pump can’t cope, while at the same time trying to remember to feed the cat. That’s the other thing you inevitably inherit with a farmhouse – a collection of animals, some domesticated, and others not so much. Aoife has visions of the cat making a
home for himself in her bed, so suddenly the cat is getting short shrift inside the house. But she is delighting in the range of wildlife she encounters every time she comes down the driveway. The city-slicker in her is amazed that she can encounter foxes, rabbits and pheasants all in the distance between the gate and her new front door. We also need to discover our inner gardeners, now that we’re in charge of a garden that real gardeners would swoon over. The problem with a large garden full of beautiful blooming roses, cosmos,
I always remember my gran getting me to wind up the clocks for her any time I was visiting... it took a while to get around them all!
EAR TO THE GROUND 27
