Isn’t it funny how the first thing that many people say to you when returning from a holiday in the sun is “How awful – you must be finding it dreadful to be back home!” or perhaps you get something along the lines of “Gosh – it must be so hard adjusting back to this depressing weather”?
Well, allow me let you into a little secret – apart from being a complete and utter homebody, where no matter how fabulous the holiday may have been, I am always delighted to arrive back home to be surrounded by my own things. I also (now some of you may find this unusual) find something endlessly romantic about the English countryside in Winter time – especially when I am surrounded by a mysterious, deep fog – the thicker and more opaque, the better!
Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not a complete Pollyanna when it comes to all of the weather conditions that Winter can throw at us. I hate a torrential downpour whislt wading though claggy mud as much as the next person, but is it just me, or is there something rather romantic about walking through the countryside in a dense, foggy, mist?
I mentioned on instagram a few days ago, that having been born and brought up in London, it had taken me quite a while to get used to walking about through deserted fields and wooded areas with simply a dog for company, when I first moved to Norfolk.
Those first few years of solitary dog walking were filled with goulish thoughts of caped abductors hiding behind trees, and scenes of phantom raspberry blowers (The Two Ronnies anyone?) that could happily have graced the pages of a Victorian gothic novella. However, as time has passed, the utter romance of walking in such beautifully atmospheric conditions has totally gripped and charmed me. Just as with clear bright sunshine, a cloak of undulating, writhing mist will often enhance and beautify even the most mundane of vistas or buildings. The adventure level of my usual walk takes on a new thrill when a previously familiar, but now visually distorted tree adopts an air of fairytale enchantment, or when the eerie silence that often comes with low, heavy cloud is suddenly broken by the frantic dash of a muntjack deer or a startled rabbit bounding out of the hedgerows.
Of course, my love of a foggy field has absolutely nothing to do with the thought of a ruggedly handsome and bare chested Mr. Darcy exploding into my line of vision through the mist wearing only riding breeches and tall boots. Nothing at all…
Actor Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Darcy with his shirt firmly on!
Image from Pride & Prejudice (2005 film) Working Title Films in Association with StudioCanal.
Until next time,
