Once upon a time, long ago, a man and his wife wanted to live somewhere quiet and peaceful, and they searched and they searched until they found a little bungalow....
Behind their house was a farmer's field ... sometimes it grew potatoes ... sometimes it grew stinky cabbages or sprouts ... sometimes nothing grew ... it was just left when the farmer was too busy to bother about it.
Time passed and the man and his wife had two lovely children and they didn't didn't worry too much about the field ... they were far too busy .... until one day. .. as they were driving home they saw a notice on the field:
Oh my goodness, the man and the woman said, and so did all their neighbours, what will happen to our lovely view? What will happen to our peace and quiet? ... what on earth shall we do? Then a wise man from down the road came up with a plan - why don't we all buy the field ourselves! So the man and the woman and all their neighbours had to beg for pennies from their bank managers, and they went along to the auction and managed to buy the field for a lot more pennies than they were expecting to pay!
On the day the documents were signed a rainbow magically appeared in the sky and they were all very happy. It was a good sign.
Now the hard work began. The farmer had neglected the field for a long time and the neighbours had to hire a tractor to cut the long grass ...
... all the children watched from a safe distance
... the men and women toiled in the field for many weeks, cutting back the undergrowth and brambles ... until the day finally came to have a big celebration .... with a huge bonfire, and good things to eat and drink!
... the children played in the field all summer long and they all lived happily ever after!
That was 16 years ago when our children were 7 and 2 .... and we share the one and half acres with five other families. It is protected Green Belt land, so no-one could ever build houses on it, but we saved it from other forms of development. (The field behind the houses opposite us now has flood lit stables).
Our children all had the most charmed of childhoods ... free to roam in very safe surroundings. One family installed a swing at the far end, one of the grandads built the best den in the far corner, another father put up goalposts and we had a climbing frame. They hid in ditches and got very dirty. They learned about nature ... my son and his little partner in crime went through a phase of bringing us a series of dead things that fascinated them. Ugh!
We have badgers in the lane behind the field and there are always foxes around. As we are very close to the River Dee, which is a paradise for bird watchers, we have a steadily changing stream of winged visitors who stop off on their long migration journeys.
We've had birthday parties in the field, with team games and bouncy castles ... we celebrated the Millennium together with all our families and had the most amazing firework display ... we've gathered again to celebrate the field's 10th birthday .... and we even had a wonderful party in the field for my parents' Golden Wedding
A few of us still gather round a bonfire on warm balmy evenings, with a glass of wine, watching bats circling above our heads.
We could live the Good Life and be self sufficient, but none of us have the time to do that at the moment, apart from one neighbour who is retired. He grows veg and keeps bees, and sells his honey locally. One or two people tried keeping hens in the early days, but Mr Fox won in the end! It was too heartbreaking for words.We all planted some apple trees which are incredibly prolific ... we are considering investing in a cider press for next year.
Sadly, some of the neighbours have felt the need to put up fences ... which is against our early principles, and the field is so maintained now the wildness has gone. It almost looks like a park.
But it still gives us the most wonderful view from our windows and affords us the peace and tranquility we were searching for all those years ago, when we first bought this house.... and Inca loves to run in the field as fast as she can on her way to her 'walkies'.
And the field gang?
They've all outgrown the games of their childhood. They now range in age from 17 to 27, two live and work away from home, one has travelled for a year in New Zealand, one works as a trainee engineer, and two are ready for university, one is still at school in. Year 13. I'm sure they will remember the field all their lives!
