The move, through the seasons.

WINTER

I close my eyes and picture the soft, green rolling hills of Devon, the sandy beaches, my friends and me laughing, watching our children play whilst thinking; this is it, this will be their group of friends forever, and mine too.

I open my eyes and stare out of the window, the rain is lashing down, the wind howling and the darkness encroaching.

Welcome to bonny Scotland.

This was our new adventure.

This was where we had chosen to live, to start afresh, to undertake a house build, an opportunity to raise our children in a beautiful part of the world, peace and nature surrounding us. However, since our arrival all we had seen was rain. My hope was disappearing, I wondered whether this was it, whether this was the end of the world, and it was going to happen while living somewhere far away from all of our friends and family. My excitement washed away, my motivation for this monumental adventure dwindling. Then it dawned on me that Devon was having a calm, peaceful and somewhat mild February, therefore it was not the end of the world.

This had to be a blip….didn’t it?

SPRING

We are in our caravan on our very own plot of land, sorting out the plans for our house build, the excitement is mounting, again. One day we will have a house that we will have built ourselves. Currently, we are adjusting to bijoux living, but we are a close family and as much as a bit of extra space would be lovely, possibly somewhere to do meal preparation, or an extra bit of storage for all the gubbins children have (and me), it’s not so bad living here.

The view across the loch is incredible, and changeable. We see Buzzards in the forest behind us, there are frogs everywhere leaving abundant piles of spawn in their wake, there is a resident hedgehog whom we watch trundling about, and a pine marten has also made an appearance. Then there are the owls making their voices heard in the night, and the deer, the ever present deer. A far cry from the suburbia we have left behind.

SUMMER

A little known fact about the village we have chosen to live in is that rainfall is high, far higher than anywhere we have ever lived before. When the sun shines it is a truly beautiful place, when it rains, it does so relentlessly, seemingly when everywhere else is basking in golden heat, it gets wearing.

We still do not have plans for our house submitted. We have, however, paid the deposit so there is no going back.

I miss the convenience of life we had before, everything on our doorstep, and although we knew how far away shops and other commodities were before moving, there are times when I have a sudden panic, wondering what on earth we are doing here. Then I look out of the window and the calmness returns.

Two wildlife observations:

1) The deer.

They are incredible beasts to watch as they slowly eat their way through every new sapling, they even had the audacity to nibble our oak tree we had nurtured as an acorn while living in Devon, but there is something about their peacefulness, their quiet stalking of new plants to forage, there is an air about them which says; I am majestic, and I know it.

2) The midges.

How can you ever get used to them? They hover around you, you think you got off lightly, just having to bat a few away and then you arrive home and BAM you have a million bites all over you.

AUTUMN

The leaves are turning, part of me is dreading what we could face in the future, not just the potential for snow, it’s the brown that surrounds us, it seems never-ending. It is a far cry from the previous greenery I am used to.

Our weekends though consist of exploring lesser-trodden beaches and coves, far away from even the hint of a tourist, and these are on our doorstep. Treasure is the term we use for the multitude of shells, stones and smooth glass we find and which fill our sons pockets.

Adventure is on our doorstep, it surrounds us.

The rain remains relentless, but when the sun does shine, it is beautiful.

WINTER

Snow, such a wonderful, magical, crisp whiteness delicately coating everywhere. It even has the ability to make the caravan look pretty. However, we cannot go anywhere, the steep drive and lane is too much for our non-4x4 car. When we do emerge from our white cocoon, the bigger road is almost clear of snow. We had been living in our very own winter wonderland.

Seeing the children sledging, building snowmen, having snowball fights, the excitement and wonderment in their eyes is intoxicating, but if you have anywhere you need to be then it is frustrating. I have been informed that usually snow lasts a day or two and is then gone because of the proximity to the sea, but not this time. We have had in total three separate snow falls, all hanging around for up to a week.

Things I have learnt about snow; wellies are a nightmare.

SPRING

The daffodils are blooming, colour is appearing on the mountains, there’s an excitement in the air - goodbye winter, hello spring. Although I have been informed that the snow can appear again just before summer, deep breaths, everything will be fine.

For now, however, we have had a week of sunshine, our house build is slowly creeping forward, the buzzards have been swooping, the deer stalking plants again, the days are getting longer and the nights lighter.

This will be our year.

This will be the year we build our house.

This will be the year which will decide the rest of our future.

This is our adventure.