Final Sentiments on England…

Before we turn our blog towards our new Italian experiences, I wanted to quick sum up our time in England so I have a record of a few of these precious memories. England does strike me as indeed “precious.” With so many picture-perfect, historic pristine towns with rising church steeples and blooming flower baskets, I felt surrounded by untouched beauty and history. When I think of our time in England, there are three things that come to mind. Tea, countryside and hospitality. Although we were there for only 2 weeks, we drank more tea than we typically do in 2 months (and we’re actually frequent tea drinkers!). I’ve always known about the English custom of having tea, but I didn’t know the extent of this tradition. With both of our farm stay hosts, we were offered tea at least 5-6 times a day. I began by drinking the tea black, because that’s the way I typically take it. But, by the end of our stay, I was drinking it the English way with a lot of milk in it and sometimes sugar too. It was delicious. We had tea with breakfast, after lunch and dinner, and also around 10:30am and 3:30pm for our little work breaks. These times were my favorite, as our hosts typically brought it outside to us in the garden and we all sat together to take a break for this important time of the day. Sometimes we had English biscuits (cookies) too. We have decided that tea times are an excellent way to break up the workday.

The countryside in England is beautiful and never-ending. With no big mountains in sight to provide orientation landmarks, it seemed that everywhere we looked was another working farm. Although many of these farms did have that pristine look, they also looked well worked and authentic. There were plenty of rusty wheelbarrows about, farm tools sticking out above the soil in the gardens, and creatively stacked woodpiles. Travis wrote about our first working experience with our host Steve, so I will continue where he left off and tell you about our new friends Rob and Robin. I purposely had to re-visit England before writing about Italy because I didn’t want to leave out what an incredible time we had with these hosts! When Steve dropped us off, we were welcomed by Rob with a strong welcoming handshake and offered a cup of tea before even unpacking our bags. With teas in hand, we toured their property that consisted of their cozy English home, their daughter Tess and son-in-law Will’s home (and their adorable sweet toddler “Sully”), an apartment in-the-works Rob and their son Tom were currently building for him to live, and the cute little caravan where we stayed neighboring their house. They had towering woods out back surrounded by blooming daffodils, and a vegetable garden where we spent some time cultivating the land.

Staying with Rob and Robin was an experience this year that we won’t forget. As you know, we have done a lot of home stays and met a variety of people, but the warmth of these folks is something to write home about. We’d definitely like to replicate their hospitality the next time we entertain guests. Rather than feeling like the volunteer workers this week, we truly felt like guests… well no, like family members actually. After 7 months now on the road without our own families, I can’t explain how good it felt to be treated to such warmth and authentic family comfort. Although we worked hard, the work was interesting and varied- Travis chopped a ton of wood, I hauled it in the wheelbarrow and stacked it on the woodpile, and together we did some gardening, weeding, hedging, and composting. But it was the classic English personalities (with a mix of South African roots thrown in there too) of Rob and Robyn that made this week unforgettable. Meal times were highly enjoyable- not just the farm-fresh, delicious organic comfort food, but the interesting conversations enriched by Robyn’s compassion for others and Rob’s sense of humor with his extensive knowledge of literature and the intricacies of the English language. They both were fascinating individuals with varied pasts including unique professions and the times they spent in South Africa, India and other parts of England. With a love for meeting and experiencing new people, new adventures and a very free-spirited way of life, Rob summed it up well when he said, “in every day there should be some kind of party.”

Therefore, they treated us each night to some sort of entertainment, including a trip to the local pub where they bought us drinks, watching a British film together that they specially picked out for us to enjoy, and a big raging bonfire the last night. We got a kick out of watching the “pyro” in Rob. Just for the sake of entertainment he threw several aerosol cans in the fire to make bombs and probably just to feed his delightful interest in danger. Robin was the sweetest grand mum… taking her 2 year-old grandson Sully in the wheelbarrow everywhere with her in the garden, and letting him play at wild outside letting his sense of exploration develop. Travis and I were a little scared the times we saw him tooling about with hedge-clippers or some other frightening gardening tool in his hands, but Robin always had a good eye on him and taught him lessons along the way.

The fact that I could share more fun stories about these fun people again shows how much we cherished our time here…. so I hope I’ve provided a good idea of how Travis and I were embraced into this family. (Thank you Rob and Robyn, we hope to come back to you again someday soon!)

So to conclude our England days, I also want to quickly mention the time we spent in Cambridge for Easter weekend. As a unique treat, it turned out that we spent the Easter holiday with familiar acquaintances from America. We were warmly invited into the home of Ryan and Kelly DuBois, daughter of long-time family friends and my pastor while growing up, Bruce Ballast. Upon arriving to England I had no idea I knew someone living there, but because of a little update I wrote on facebook…. all the connections were made and we enjoyed a lovely stay with this fun couple. It’s a small world! Ryan and Kelly were fantastic hosts; their hospitality and home was like a B&B to us during this much-needed break from farm work. They took us on an interesting walking tour showing us the town’s many universities, and because of Kelly’s employment status with the University of Cambridge, we were able to do this without paying admission. The town itself was blossoming from every corner with fresh flowers, especially daffodils and tulips just rising above the surface. To top the weekend off, Travis and I attended King’s College Cathedral for Easter services and were wowed by the choir. All in all, it was a quintessential England trip.