Haven't blogged in absolutely ages mostly because there's not much to write about. But for the first time since 2019 we managed to escape for a break. Not a holiday exactly but a welcome change of scenery away from it all (and yes, coinciding with the flag shagging Jubilee weekend which I personally wanted to distance myself from as much as possible).
So we disappeared into the wilds of Worcestershire. We've passed through this gorgeous county many times but with it only being an hour and a half away from home, we'd never thought to actually stay there and visit local attractions.
We couldn't resist "Rosedene", a National Trust property that was once part of the Chartist movement of setting up smallholdings and housing for impoverished families. At one time there were about 30 cottages like Rosedene clustered around a small village near Bromsgrove. Each smallholding got the building and four acres of land around it. And that was one of the main attractions for me, the thought of staying somewhere where you weren't literally on top of your neighbours and vice versa.
Rosedene was quiet, secluded and quite rudimentary in terms of facilities. There was no loo / sink etc in the cottage itself (loos and a shower were housed in a separate block some distance from the cottage). There was a kitchen but again this was in a separate barn behind the cottage (which you can just see peeking out of the back of the photo above). So it was a lot like camping but with four brick walls around you and a solid roof over your head instead of canvas.
The pump above was, at one point, the only water source for the cottage. Outside in the yard was a small long-drop privy (which we thankfully didn't have to use). It just struck me that this simpler life must have been hugely challenging and despite my teenaged daughter's protest that no house is a house without wi fi and all mod cons, I totally fell in love with the idea of living like this.
At home we've had disasters with our hot water / heating system, the whole house needs renovating and redecorating, and as usual we are working full time trying to figure out how to fit all this stuff in, this adulting. Back then they had a hard life eking out a living from the land or what precious livestock they could afford but you could probably imagine that having a house where everything is ludicrously primitive and simple must make it easier to work on, right?
Worcestershire was steeped in history and we spent most of the weekend visiting places that chronicled the county's rise from a largely rural / agricultural county to one steeped in the soot and blackness of the industrial revolution. At each of the attractions we visited we were presented with the same stark reminder of that once simpler life, and how we might have all the comfort of the modern age, but do we truly have any peace or satisfaction, or even quality of life?
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