Wild Meadow

We had a blissful week staying in this beautiful house in the middle of a meadow. Wild Meadow is near Presteigne just over the border in Wales, a large meadow hillside brimming with life and loveliness.

We chose the solstice week in June because we knew the grasses would be high and the flowers would be blooming.

And because there would still be a few weeks before the owner Andrea would be cutting it down. She runs scything courses and teaches people how to cut the tall grass in the traditional way.

So we made the most of it.

It was the perfect playground for us lot. 

We spent our week collecting,

identifying species (trying anyway),

 pressing flowers,

drawing

and painting, 

(Sarah took these gorgeous pics of Dean at work)

cooking

and eating

singing lots of songs,

(meadow karaoke)

and barbecuing with friends. 

We had fun learning to fly our little balsa wood areoplane.

When it found a thermal it was a delight to watch

but there were a lot of flops and crashes and searching for it in the long grass.

We had some lovely walks in the rolling countryside

 and hired the Wild Meadow bikes and cycled for miles. 

We had some golden sunsets and we'd all rush outside to take pictures and breathe in that evening light.  

 On the last evening Andrea gifted me a botanical eyeglass, something I have been meaning to buy for a while. She knew I'd been looking up close trying to identify all the grasses. It is a whole new world through that lens I tell you and we all ran round around the meadow like excited children discovering everything for the first time.

I can highly recommend this wonderful place. The cottage has three double bedrooms so it's great for a big group but if there are only two of you there is a beautiful shepherds hut at the top of the field too. We miss the meadow now but we have already booked again for next summer!

Thanks for all of your beautiful photos Sarah. x