Add to List - #66
West Country scenes incl. sauna hats, hammocks, and a new bird addiction
Hello, thank you, and welcome. I love you for being here!
Add to List is my Sunday round-up. It’s the small things that brought me joy, evoked an emotional reaction, or became some short-lived stability in the past seven days.
Obsession
The West Country.
Last week I said I was going to frolic in the fields like an Austen character this weekend and that I did! More so, than I could have ever imagined.
Toasting freshly-baked bread while the kettle whizzes on the AGA, cathedral markets with cheeses and olive galore, farm shop quiches, reading in hammocks, runs round sun-reflecting reservoirs, lambs springing up behind surrounding fences, rolling fields, oak trees which have stood the test of time, and smooth sunny drives through meandering chocolate-box villages.
I have an unhealthy habit of visiting somewhere and immediately planning a move there, but this one is REAL. And, how can you not love a place which has toad patrol?
Confession
I’ve turned into a bird fanatic.
It happened. I downloaded Merlin bird ID in the countryside and now I am hooked.
I already am getting to know my chiff-chaffs from my tits. This morning alone, I’ve heard four different species from my London bedroom.
Shook
Glastonbury.
Not the festival, the place.
It’s full of druidy-looking people wearing no shoes and drawing shamanic symbols on the pavement. You think I’m over-exaggerating? I’m not. I spotted at least four crystal shops on the high street alone. We went into the wells, where a white bearded man in a robe waved a sign to tell us it was a ‘silent peace hour’.
What a weird hoot. (A slightly witchy, sinister hoot.) But a hoot nonetheless.]
I can understand with the vantage point and the Glasto Tor how this has become quite the spot for pagan traditions; the views from the top were something. Blessed be. Mother of all things; watch over me tonight.
Cook
West Country treats
Sublime seafood at The Lazy Lobster, Chew Magna
I love when a village has a great restaurant. Residents of neighbouring cottages and hamlets come from near and wide to sample the food and you can see why. I love when a place picks something and does it well. Here, it’s seafood shipped in fresh from the Brixham coast. There’s an array of dishes with well-paired and innovative flavours. Schezuan tiger prawns, hispi cabbage with crab butter, and scallops with pink pickles, cauliflower puree and black pudding to name a few.
Pint of Cider and jacket at a pub in West Harptree
It would be remiss to go to the West Country and not have a pint of cider! And, after a long walk through the countryside on gloriously sunny day I rewarded myself with a crisp glass and a jacket potato topped on a picnic bench.
It was served alongside an overshare from the bartender who told us about all her medical ailments in great detail. She really gave us — let’s call it, the inside scoop — and all the drama and goings on from behind the bar? Well she didn’t like someone at all — so much she’d taken the liberty of selling two of his greenhouses to without him knowing. Hilarious.
Yet the biggest treat? Waking up in the morning with friends you’ve known your whole life. Hair still wild, coffee brewing, croissants baking, giggling about your negroni antics of the night before. There’s nothing more satisfying than the buttery flake of memories falling into place with people who aren’t the family you were given, but are the family you’d choose. Life’s rich, delicious moments.
Book
Monsters: What Do We Do with Great Art by Bad People? by Claire Dederer
Still going on this one. Sipping it like a great wine (brewed by a very bad person).
I’ll leave you in my hammock pondering this quote from the book. The view might ever so slightly off set the dismal reality.
“The world has always been broken. Even as we sat here, with our good educations and our good intentions, we were in the midst of learning a terrible lesson. We were learning that we were part of history after all.”
Look
Sauna hats.
Not only do they make you look like an adorable Moomin character— they work! Temperature well and truly regulated.
I’m predicting it won’t be long before the Dalston fuck bois are wearing these down Kingsland road on route to a natty wine bar on a Lime bike.
Can’t Stop Scanning
The birds.
I promise you once you start, you will not be able to stop.
Forward Planning
Writers’ Hour (in person) at Kindred, and lots of other writing tasks.
I have quite a few different tabs open in my brain at the moment and it’s been hard to get time crafted out for longer-form creative projects.
Yet, there’s a chance! I’m hosting again tomorrow with London Writers’ Salon. Two back to back sprints all set in a lovely co-working library. I love these sessions so much; there’s always so much creative energy flying around the room.
Are you a writer with a creative project you want to focus on? Perhaps you’d like to start the writing process? Maybe you have a deadline and you’d like to focus in? If so, join us! You can book here.
the merlin app is v addictive! ... sooo clever tho
Move to the West Country and we will follow you