Wagga Wagga to Worcestershire & back again
The northern hemisphere has now officially entered spring. I’m welcoming it with eager anticipation after virtually doing two winters back to back. While Malvern hasn’t had a terribly brutal winter, our one in Wagga Wagga was wet and grey, so it feels like there hasn’t been much variation in the weather in the last six months. Doing two cold seasons consecutively though does makes you appreciate the hints nature gives, which shows the chill is almost over.
I had the privlege of attending my first English wedding at the weekend. Adam’s mum got remarried and it so lovely to be a part of the celebrations.
Whenever I think about an English wedding, it’s always Four Weddings and Funeral that comes to mind. Historic stone churches, top hats and tails and a young Hugh Grant. This wedding was a little different. There was no church, no men in fancy hats (but there were a few ladies in fabulous fascinators!) and no Hugh. It was refreshingly real.
Oh what a difference a week can make. Last week Adam and I were sipping sangria under sunny blue skies in Gibraltar. Over the weekend we’ve watched flurries of snow showers from our kitchen window, whilst warming our hands on big mugs of coffee.
It still seems a bit magical to me that you can wake up one morning and have one type of weather, jump on a plane or train or in a car, and suddenly be in a place completely opposite to where you were. It’s why I guess so many people get wanderlust.
It’s been grey and drizzly over the last few weeks but on Saturday the sun finally came out and stuck around all day! It was the perfect way to start a long weekend. Adam and I are currently in Gibraltar (more on that later this week!), but is there anything better than a bright, cool winter’s day? The clouds, haze and woodsmoke from cosy fireplaces gets swept away to reveal a landscape in muted but rich colour.
When I worked as a journalist in south-western New South Wales one of my favourite things to do while driving long, straight roads for hours at a time was to look out for the names of farms. The name seemed to the give the property a personality and I liked the concept of the land almost becoming a member of the family.
What I’ve found in England and particularly Malvern, is that names aren’t just reserved for farms. Many suburban houses have names, often dating back centuries. Houses are sometimes named after the family that originally lived in the home or the surrounding landscape. I also love that mail is addressed to the house name. It isn’t 16 Smith Street, rather ‘Valley View Cottage’, 16 Smith Street. Perhaps it’s the daydreamer in me, but I just think that’s utterly delightful.
There are so many different types of name plaques too: painted ceramic slabs adorning house fronts, wrought iron signs on gates, wooden plaques, sandstone etchings or sometimes the name’s just simply painted on the side of the house.
I’ve always wanted to live in a house that has a name. The house Adam and I are living in does – so it’s a bit of a dream come true! Our downstairs neighbours even have a beautifully painted watercolour of the original house before it was split into three separate apartments.
I’ve been lucky enough to do a bit of travel, but I must admit I’ve never really noticed en masse houses with names anywhere except the U.K. Does your house have a name? What is it, and do you know the story behind it?!
I will always love fresh flowers in the house. There’s an element of simplicity and sophistication that blooms seem to capture. Like when someone compliments your outfit and you reply ‘Oh, this old thing?!’. Flowers are grown-up and pretty, without really trying. They just are.
House plants though, I’ve never really had an affinity for. To me, they remind me of Australian suburbia circa 1994. Palms and Calla lilies in sturdy rectangular cane planter boxes, on beige linoleum floors quietly wilting in the summer heat. Meant to look all tropical and fresh, but instead looking droopy, brown and dry. Or even better, the fabric, plastic variety of house plant that sort of look reals from afar but when you get close up is covered in dust and spiderwebs. Yuck!
After a couple of mega Pinteresting sessions though, I’m slowly starting to reconsider the humble house plant. I’ve been quietly lusting over images of kitchens and sitting rooms, neutrally decorated in whites, greys and navy with hints of greenery. Tendrils of leaves, tumbling oh-so-perfectly from cute pots sat on open shelving surrounded by pretty mugs and copper saucepans.
I bought by accident a house plant the other week. Adam was making a lamb dish that needed mint leaves. There were no small packets of fresh mint leaves available, so I picked up a mint plant instead. We’d had a relatively successful herb garden when we lived in Wagga Wagga and had talked about doing something similar in England but due to the season hadn’t bothered with it yet. I found a little bowl and sat it in front of the window near our kitchen sink.
Over the weekend while visiting Adam’s grandparents, I clumsily knocked over a house plant making a lovely mess of soil on the cream carpet. While cleaning it all up, I noticed the plant had a few ‘extra bits’ of greenery in its pot. I learnt it was a spider plant and Granny told me every house should have one. She sent me home with one of the ‘extra bits’, which I’ve since learnt are called spiderettes (!), and told me to put it in some water until its roots grow.
The spider plant is now living beside the mint. They look ever so nice, sitting in our yellow kitchen. Instead of being outdated and naff, they almost feel like company when you’re standing at the sink washing dishes. Also, on cold drizzly days when the fog doesn’t lift I like the little reminder of the outdoors, indoors.
I won’t say I’m a convert when it comes to house plants… but for now the two in our home are staying! Do you have house plants? What can you recommend? – Suggestions on what does well in grey English weather would be appreciated!
I nervously watched the weather forecast all last week. Snow had been predicted across a large part of England and on Thursday afternoon it started to fall.
I was incredibly excited, as it was first snow I’ve seen in England. There’s just something about those flakes of ice that puts a smile on my face. I didn’t see snow until I was 21, working and living as a television reporter in south-west New South Wales. While driving with a cameraman to our shoot location for the day, I mistook hail netting on apple orchards for the real stuff!
I’ve visited the Australian High Country dozens of time over the last decade to both ski and play in the snow, but seeing it fall naturally on the place where I’m living is something I’ll never forget. It didn’t settle in Malvern itself on Thursday afternoon, but standing in our front yard watching the snow gracefully descend to the ground, was enough to keep me happy.
You can imagine my smile then, when the next morning Adam and I woke up to everything covered in white! It was only an icing sugar dusting – nowhere near enough for a snowman, but enough to fully cover the ground, roads and roofs of all the houses nearby.
Adam had an early start at work, so I took advantage of being awake at the crack of dawn to rug up and head out for a wander around. There was a brief, but beautifully colourful sunrise that I was lucky enough to see before the clouds rolled on in again.
My morning walk was just wonderful – there was the scent of wood fuelled fires in the air and I passed ruddy cheeked children on their way to school with big grins on their face (much like me!) taking in the snowy scene.
The snow was all melted by the weekend and there’s no more forecast in the next week or so, but fingers crossed we see another flurry or two before the winter’s out!
Have you heard of hygge? It’s a Danish concept that’s focused on the home. It doesn’t have a direct English translation, but it’s essentially about making your house a cosy, comfortable place in the colder weather, where you can focus on the small things in life that make you feel happy and fulfilled. Think a delicious hot chocolate in a big mug, swathes of blankets, dim lights and a good book. Hygge (hew [like threw]-guh) has been huge in Britain over the last few months. There were dozens of books on the subject released over Autumn and they flooded bookstores in the lead-up to Christmas.
I’d never heard of hygge until I started flipping through one of the aforementioned books while browsing a store in December. As an Australian experiencing her first northern hemisphere winter, it was a concept I was immediately drawn to. For me it hasn’t really been the cold that’s bothered me, rather it’s the short days I’ve noticed the most. It’s dark a lot and I can understand why people develop Seasonal Affective Disorder now. Hygee it’s all about encouraging you and your family’s wellbeing during the long cold winter months. Denmark has topped the United Nations World Happiness Report twice (it’s been a top five country in the five years the report’s been compiled), so they’re obviously onto something.
Since I discovered hygge, I’ve been trying to introduce it into my day-to-day living. Instead of getting disheartened at the current 4:18pm sunset (with a 8:15am sunrise!), I’ve turned drawing the curtains of an afternoon into a ritual. I switch on lamps and fairylights (which we’ve reappropriated now Christmas is over) around the house, which add a lovely glow and make myself a cup of tea, while trying to knock over a few pages in whatever book I’m reading.
Adam’s 2017 hobby (read obsession!) is baking bread. Often he’ll make tomorrow’s loaf before we cook dinner, so our afternoon cuppa is increasingly being accompanied by a slice of fresh, warm bread spread with butter, honey and dusted with salt flakes. It’s a nice way to wind down after the day and an opportunity to sit quietly for a few minutes and chat about our days.
Of an evening Adam and I will listen to music and read (occasionally while enjoying a glass of Australian shiraz!) It creates this wonderfully relaxed atmosphere and you go to bed with a clear mind.
Hygge is something I’d like to keep up even when the weather warms. I’m imagining fresh flowers, open windows, elderflower spritzers and bowls of jewel-like berries. It’s also increased my desire for a Scandinavian holiday over the next 12 months tenfold!
What I really like about hygge though, is that it’s something you can create in your own home too with either little or no expense. It’s not about having designer throw blankets, or fancy scented candles, it’s more about creating that feeling of loveliness by changing your mindset. You can use what you’ve got around you to do that. Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised :). Happy hygee-ing! x
2016 was certainly a year of change for me. I pushed pause on the career I’d been working away on for the last decade, rented out the brand new house I’d built in 2015 and moved overseas. I’m now working in a totally different industry, living in a 150 year old house and truly loving the new opportunities England is presenting to me.
I’m not really big on new year’s resolutions, but given 2017 is going to be a year like no other, there are a three goals I’d like to achieve.
When Adam and I decided to move to England one of the top items on our ‘to-do’ list was travel. We spent much of 2016 planning and saving for the relocation, so it meant that we didn’t go on too many holidays. By Australian standards, the U.K. is relatively well connected transport wise, plus you’re never too far away from an international airport where you can normally find good deals on airfares to much of Europe and north America. On our list so far is a trip to the Brecon Beacons in Wales, the Isle of Skye in Scotland, one of the Scandinavian countries (top of the list is the Faroe Islands or Iceland, Adam fell in love with the country during a visit in 2014), Italy (I visited in 2013 and still have vivid dreams about the glorious food!), Germany and Croatia.
2. Live more simply.
Adam and I both want to make this year more about experiences than ‘stuff’. The television Adam had before he came to Australia hasn’t moved in with us – it’s still on loan to his family, but we’re not missing it at all! After years of working in news and knowing what’s happening around the clock, it’s lovely to step away from that constant connectedness. We keep up to date with with current affairs via our phones and computers and spend our evenings reading, listening to music, chatting or having a Netflix binge. We’d also love to get stuck into helping out in the family allotment growing herbs, vegetables and fruit, and we want to expand our abilities in the kitchen. Adam’s already getting stuck into perfecting bread – sampling freshly baked loaves on an almost daily basis is fine by me!
3. Get outdoors more.
In Australia I was a regular gym goer. Usually three times a week I’d pop along for pilates and yoga classes. I loved it, but that routine has completely gone by the wayside over the last few months due to move. I’ve truly embraced the British habit of walking (as you can read about here and here) and it’s something I’d like to continue this year. There are public footpaths just metres away from our house and in 2017 I want to start using them more and getting up onto the Malvern Hills on a more regular basis. I love how you can go on a walk in England and discover beautiful little spots, unique views and character-filled pubs and cafes. There is so much more incentive to get out and be active (even in the cold weather) when there’s the chance of seeing something new.
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? If so, what are they?!
Here’s to wonderful things over the next 12 months. x
This week I’ve opened my own U.K. bank account, two months after my arrival in the country. Given the nature of my visa, the fact I had a residency card and the ease in which Adam was able to open a bank account in Australia we made the assumption it would be a similar straight forward process in England. However, as we discovered, it was a little more complicated than that!
The bank where I’ve opened my account required multiple forms of identification as well as a proof of address. My passport, visa stamp and residency card covered the identification requirements. Normally I’d whip out an old phone or electricity bill as proof of address – but as I’d only been in the country a few weeks I didn’t have any letters of that nature.
Adam suggested I apply for a National Insurance Number (similar to an Australian Tax File Number) as I’d need it to be able to work in England. That required a phone call to HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs), an application pack was sent out where I had to fill out a number of forms and send away copies of my identification documents. We’d been advised the application letter wasn’t a suitable proof of address, but that the letter with the actual NIN would be.
My NIN was issued on a letterhead from Jobcentre Plus (a privatised section of HMRC), and couldn’t be accepted by the bank so I had to ring HMRC again explain the situation and ask them to reissue my NIN letter on a HMRC letterhead.
After four in-branch appointments I finally had success and now feel like a fully functioning adult again! Thankfully I had Adam, who had his accounts and we were able to get by with him using his bank cards and me using cash.
After so many years of relying of my ‘plastic’ it was a bit unusual going back to using physical money again. I became a lot more aware of what I was buying, but it was a hassle at times making sure I always had enough cash on me to cover expenses.
I am aware of services set up to help people who are applying for visas in the U.K. Many of them, as part of various packages, offer setting up a bank account. If you’re considering a similar move to me and Adam, I would seriously consider investigating such deals. You obviously pay for the service, but it might save you a good amount of time and effort when you arrive. If you don’t have a partner, friends or family in England with an already set up account, I imagine it would be even harder. It was a lesson I’ve certainly learnt the long way, but it feels good to finally have another bit of life maintenance complete!
Wattle and Ash 