Saturday 21 July 2012

The joy of down time


We spent last week staying on a farm in rural Devon. Green fields surrounded us, there was no phone reception and no wifi in our cottage (hence all quiet on the Mummy Zen front). After putting the children to bed I would sometimes think I heard one of them crying but on closer listening it was bleating sheep! Peace and quiet, fresh air, the invigoration of being in nature all made for a very relaxing and enjoyable week.

Not having phone or internet connection was particularly restful. My husband and I read loads, something we rarely do in long stints these days at home. We chatted more too. We went to bed earlier and slept soundly.

There was plenty of simple family fun too - walks around the farm, running around in the garden, generally enjoying being outside come rain or shine. Of course a working farm was quite the excitement for our 3-year old son who got to collect eggs from the chicken coop, get up close to a real tractor, see sheep, cows and horses and developed a sweet attachment to the farm dog Rosie.

Back to the big city and feeling refreshed, trying not to slip back into all the bad habits. My regular blog posts will be back but I'll also be making more time for the reading I so enjoyed and hopefully getting into bed earlier more often.
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2 comments:

  1. I think it does one lots of good to lose modern technological distractions every now and then! My dream holiday is rural France or Italy with no one but my immediate family and no means of contacting the outside world. Your time in Devon sounds wonderful :)

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