Friday morning

The dining room faces east, morning light
washing over the plates and glasses.
We eat our breakfast slowly, listening
to the chirruping of Little Boys next door.

There isn't a straight wall in the cottage,
it is all curves, dips and unexpected angles.
The vintage map of Dartmoor balances precariously,
at odds with ceiling and floor.

We arrive at the Macmillan coffee morning,
when powder-blue cups are being washed up
but in time to buy homemade chutney and say hello.
They all know who we are, of course.

Sunflowers are thrust into my hand as we leave,
grown in a garden on the edge of the village.
They glow on the kitchen windowsill,
rich yellow and ochre against terracotta tiles

I bring them home at the end of the weekend,
carefully wrapped in newspaper,
slices of sunlight from my other life.

The China Aesthetic

What is your first concern is
when you daydream about a new home?
I worry a lot about the china aesthetic:
what sort of china will suit the house?
Plain or coloured, vintage or contemporary.
Who will be using it, what sort of food,
how will it look in the dining room?

I have chosen black and white,
contemporary designs for everyday use
and this vintage Woods tea set for cream teas.
Just look at those rural views!
A church, a cottage and a river bank...
how could you not love them!

I thought my heart would burst
when I stepped back from the dresser
and admired the display for the first time.

I know, I know, be patient with me,
I am still in the early stages of this love affair.

A little cottage in Devon

This is my new kitchen in a little cottage
in a village on the edge of Dartmoor.

It is long and thin like my kitchen at home.
and as Sheila, the estate agent lady said
"It's small but it has everything in it".

When I wash up at the sink
I look out over the churchyard
to the massive copper beech tree
and the clock on the church tower.

It is the fulfilment of a childhood dream.