And we come to the semi-live part of Blogmas! At the time of publishing, I’m in Germany and I only had a handful of hours last Monday afternoon to get this post finished between returning from my glamping trip and heading off at 5am for the flight to Germany!
Anyway, welcome to the Forager shepherd’s hut. I’ve stayed here twice before. I have posts from my first trip in December 2020 but I didn’t seem to have much to say when I came in February 2022 so there are no posts from that trip. Yes, I do prefer glamping in winter.
Last year I planned a winter wellness break, which took me in the direction of Bath. The trouble was, Omicron was rife and I decided to skip the Thermae Spa until the killer virus was a bit less killer and then I got pinged by the plague app and it all got stressful. Add in an Aga that I just couldn’t make sense of and wooden – gappy! – blinds by a main road and there was no “winter wellness” about it. So I’m having another go.
Oh, this is winter wellness! Peace! Quiet! Nothing to do! Hot tub! Snow!
I planned to be here in time for sunset on Friday but because of a last-minute work Christmas thing it was already dark. No matter. James, the owner, had lit the hot tub. All I had to do was maintain it (ok, re-light it when it went out despite me throwing logs in every twenty minutes!) and jump in. And it was like a switch had been flicked. Two months of having too much to do and not enough time just… melted away. Sure, I had two blog posts to write but before I could write them, I had to experience the weekend. For now, I could sit in my hot tub and stargaze.
I return every winter, not only to the same site but to the same shepherd’s hut. Artisan has a private garden, being walled in by trees. Astronomer has a glass ceiling for indoor stargazing. Novelist is new and twice the price, as it’s technically two his. But Forager has spectacular views over the hills. Actual rolling countryside. Admittedly, in winter you don’t get quite as much chance to enjoy those views but when it’s dark, you get a massive sky, with Orion and Sirius twinkling above those hills, Polaris overhead, Mars off to the left and Jupiter to the right. I also got a nearly-full moon. That meant the glimpse I got of the Milky Way was blocked out but it also meant I didn’t need my headtorch when I finally went inside at 11pm.
Saturday morning was a bit stressful. Reading, sewing and lazing took a back seat to “my camera has dropped dead and I need a new one by 6pm on Monday!”. I haven’t succeeded in replacing it. Superzooms start around £500 these days and even a relatively cheap basic digital camera I can at least film my Germany trip on start at £400. And there’s not many of them around. Currys was useless, both online and in-store in Yeovil. Amazon had nothing that could be delivered by Monday on my budget. I have no idea where you go for actual camera shops these days.
Never mind. I walked country lanes and fields. I had a sunset and another night in the hot tub. I went to the beach. I read. Mostly I read things the internet would tell me I shouldn’t be reading: two of Enid Blyton’s Naughtiest Girl series, a few Trebizon books and Emily of New Moon. I’m on holiday. I don’t bring Hugo or Dostoyevsky on holiday! I sewed three badges on my camp blanket. I ate enough biscuits to make myself ill. I overheated my hut with burning logs until I fell asleep at 7pm.
Other than the minor detail of wrestling with kindling and firelighters at 7am when it’s freezing and putting my glasses on steams them up so I’m blinder than if I hadn’t bothered, it’s been a wonderful weekend. I’m astonished how not-cold I’ve been, considering it’s snowed and been frosty and icy. If anything, I’ve spent more of the weekend being too hot than feeling chilly. I haven’t quite mastered the art of keeping the log burner going without packing it full of too many logs for thermic comfort.
In 48 hours I’ll be in Germany. I dare say I’ll do a lot more running around but it feels good to have taken a proper weekend off. Monday is going to be fun: unpack, repack, go to Guides, get the blog photos done at least but I’ve had a break between life and Germany. I feel very decadent.
