My Home... Away From Home... Away From Home

The Small Barn.

I think I've already mentioned how similar in "feeling" and layout the Small Barn is to Lillian's (the landlady) carriage barn residence in Jericho Center, Vermont where I lived for more than half of my life.

It felt alot like "coming home" when I walked in to the Small Barn for the first time.

Jericho Center is a very cool little town, and I'm not just saying that because it is my home town either.

Two doors down from Lillian's home (where my parents rented the main house) you will find The Jericho Center Country Store, which has some significant history of it's own! Not as old as the buildings on the Bore Place property... but still! Check it out:
http://www.jerichocountrystore.com/home

Past the store, around the corner, and down the road a piece, on a little country road, is the homestead of a very famous person, Wilson A. Bentley, more popularly known as "Snowflake Bentley." He loved snow even more than me (if that is possible) and dedicated his life to taking pictures of it.

This is the link to the "official" Snowflake Bentley website:
http://snowflakebentley.com/

Jericho also has a few other "famous" landmarks:

1) The Old Red Mill:
http://www.jerichohistoricalsociety.org/mill.htm

2) Joe's Snack Bar... a burger, shake and fries with a "creemie" for dessert. Yum.

and, saving the best for last 3) Mountain High Pizza Pie... owned and operated by two of my favorite peeps ever, Kyle and Katina (I miss you guys!) Amongst other things they make the best Greek pizza, in the whole wide world, called the Mt. Olympus. Red sauce, spinach, feta cheese and black olives. It is to die for. And now... I am hungry!!!

So, that was a quick little 'tour' of my hometown... and now, back to my home, away from home, away from home... the Small Barn.

please come in!!!

see that red fire extinguisher on the wall at the right? That's where the front door is...

This is looking towards what will soon be the kitchen all along that back wall... the sink will be in front of the window! There is nothing better than having a sink with a view...

and this is the view out the window.. it is the Oast building-where they used to dry the hops and barley.  It is gorgeous. Those siding shingles are actually made of clay, which is a very common shingle making material in the Kent region. Saw them in Tunbridge Wells also.

through the gate and a sharp right is the woodshed... making it very convenient to keep the woodstove cranking! Walk through the gate and then straight ahead, past the Oast and that little road will take you to Fern Hill where most of the tree felling occured in January.

view from future kitchen looking back towards the sitting area...

and one of my favorite parts... the wood stove or "log burner"

and a couple John Waller baskets holding the paper and the kindling!!

sleeping loft

view from "my" sleeping loft

... decoration ...

The space has such great natural light, making it perfect as a studio space!!! I brought several projects with me... this is one of them... that I have so far been unsuccessful at finishing!

So, from January 12th until February 1st, this was "home" and I did not leave Bore Place for that entire 20 days! It was lovely.

A fire in the wood stove nearly every night, and that made the sleeping loft on that end, where I was sleeping, a warm and cozy place!

Chef Andrew kept me well supplied with food for my dinner meals. Becky and Elaine kept the fridge and larder stocked with all the essential breakfast goodies and especially the peanut butter, orange marmalade and real coffee!

I was invited for dinner "out" a couple times. The first was on Saturday, January 28th, by a group from Richmond College in London, who were also staying at Bore Place.

To get our dinner plate served we had to answer 3 questions...

1) who would we want to be friends with?

2) who would we want to have dinner with?

3) who would we want to sleep with?

Well. Golly. That was a bit of a challenge! Well, actually, #1 and #2 were fairly easy to come up with an answer for straightaway... though by the time I'd heard other people's answers I had other thoughts too, but I stuck to with my originals which were Beatrix Potter and James Taylor, respectively. My answer for number 3 was very generic and nebulous really, but, they accepted it... I mean, they weren't going to invite me to dinner and then not let me eat, now, were they?

Dinner was a delicious chicken curry, rice, garden salad, cole slaw and a multitude of breads and other sides... followed by a platter of cheeses and then a trifle for dessert!

There was great conversation over dinner. I was once again amazed at how comfortable I felt in the midst of a group of folks who all already knew each other. They were all very warm and welcoming.

They invited me to stay on after dinner for the evenings' entertainment, which consisted of a talent show of sorts. They were such a delightful group. It was a really fun evening for me, and gave me a chance to socialize, wear clean clothes and earrings even!

Then, a couple days later, Tina had me over for tea (supper) and fed me an authentic English meal, "bangers and mash" (sausages, potatoes and beans) with apple crumble topped with custard for dessert. Another wow meal.

(Eating the way I did I am hard pressed to figure out how in the world I lost 10 pounds during that stay! But I did. Hurray!!!)

Tina is the head gardener at Bore Place, and has done a pretty amazing job, by the way, with all the gardens on the property. I had met Tina on January 22nd, when I was out walking. I heard a chainsaw in the direction of the car park and followed the sound to investigate. Being the curious person I am. Turns out it was Tina and her hubby, Duncan, doing a little tree felling of their own. Oh, and lets not forget Basil, their adorable chocolate colored cocker spaniel.

Anyway. Duncan was away, but Tina and I had a fun evening. As I'm sure you can imagine - with her background in horticulture and at the Royal Botanic Gardens and mine in Landscape Design we have lots in common and lots to talk about.

Also, it was nice to have a little "girl talk" which I hadn't realized I'd been missing... but turns out I was. I mean, I've spent all of my volunteer work time here with guys. And, while there have been a few women, most of my fellow classmates in the Coppicing and Hedge Laying workshops have been guys as well. So, while all the men I've been in contact with have been absolutely lovely, it was nice to balance out the testosterone with a little estrogen and progesterone for a change!

The evening flew by... before we knew it, it was past both out bedtimes!

It had been dark when I walked over to Tina's armed with a little hand crank torch.  Not that it had gotten any darker outside as the evening progressed! But, I was grateful when she offered to drive me back to the Small Barn, it had gotten to be quite chilly!

Two fun evenings out in the span of just three days time. A very pleasant note on which to end a wonderful few weeks at Bore Place.

Enough for now?

Enough for now...

self portrait - one very happy camper!

hugs-
susie