– A deliberation over downtime-

 

Moving out of London is a big deal. It’s a big deal because you don’t move back.

It takes deliberation and balls before you stretch out your wings and go for it.

Soon enough, trepidation settles into exhalation and..well..calm. You wake up surrounded by greenery, birdsong (and in our case an extremely charismatic squirrel) and think, this is right. This is so right. Actually, what was I thinking?

 

 

We used to have the beautiful Wandsworth Common on our doorstep and the fast paced, 24/7 cosmopolitan flashes of the city (which we will always enjoy catching a ride on).

 

As a place to dwell with children, Englefield Green and its surrounds is magical. Free-range kids with a properly peaceful space to call home. So much history too with Runnymede but a gentle jog away, to stand where the Magna Carta was signed. When I stop to take a breath I can feel the history, a divine touch in the breeze.

 

Living on the edge of Englefield Green with the unimaginably glorious Windsor Great Park and the stunningly gorgeous Gothic Royal Holloway College, but a five-minute walk away. Ascot, Wentworth, Windsor, Elton John (!!) need I say more.

 

A good decision.

 

People run and cycle around the country lanes with a different kind of glow from the London runners and cyclists (of which I was one for a couple of decades). Yes I miss the city – the culture the buildings, the buzz – but this gal has nature in her heart.

 

You can say “hello” to strangers and be greeted with a cheery salutation and generally the pace of life is just more relaxed. I’m pretty sure it’s the greenery – the trees the pretty parks and peaceful pace.

 

With two boys, now nine and four, their adamance about staying in London was a worry but luckily evaporated within a week. They can run and tumble and breathe and enjoy the simple pleasures and slower pace.

 

We have a river running by, we are surrounded by woods and hills and horses. We are blessed and I am chuffed and immeasurably grateful for getting to the right place at the right time.

 

I suddenly want to learn the piano again, start running again and take up Pilates. I want to cook and immerse myself in the local community (The Barley Mow and The Beehive have special places in my heart already, with their sophisticated and quirky clientele ;-))

 

For a town? We have Windsor with its high-end shopping and dining, art galleries, antique shops, we even have a castle you know.

 

So, we’ve set up here, with a classy (and highly discreet) little clinic, to deliver sophisticated botox in Surrey, filler and medical grade facial treatments to our discerning clientele.

 

As well as calming rural glow, we have our Harley Street practice for the much-loved cityscape I called home for over twenty years.

 

The secret to life is finding the right balance and appreciating just how lucky you are when you do.