Sunday, March 25, 2018

North Norfolk England

I lived a good part of my childhood in North Norfolk England. My sister would not move back there at all and I am not sure if she liked it when we were kids. Me on the other loved it. I remember going on the bus at night in Norwich and going window shopping.I still see those light and that feeling of being on a double deecker bus. But the thing I loved was when we moved to North Norfolk. I lived in a farmhouse when we first moved there and although my family life was interesting I loved the countryside. So when we moved to Aylmerton and I spent a lot of time with my neighbor a spinster it changed me forever. I learned to love drawing, and made things with clay, rode my bike everywhere and learnt to love the countryside. My neighbor made jams and grew her own vegetables it was wonderful. She took me on adventures all over North Norfolk I loved it all and in truth i probably did not know how much I loved it until I left. My parents divorced there and we all moved on. I remember so well my mum owned a tearooms in Holt called the Owl she was brilliant at it and looked amazing her smile brightened up the darkest day. Those rolling hills and miles of nothing time captured, steam trains and poppy fields. Sands and sea, life boats and sausage rolls. Time stands still in North Norfolk. I moved far away from there until I went back a few years ago, seeing it all reminded me of who I was, what I loved and what was important to me. Really deep down I am just this country girl who wanted to make a difference in this world. I had changed but North Norfolk had not. When I see pictures of the places in Norfolk of the green lands, rolling waves, fishermen boats and muddy wooded walks I am reminded why in my heart I still call this place home. It's not that it has fancy houses or fancy shops,indeed fancy is found in the serenity of open fields of time standing almost still of roads to small for much to pass and a place people know your name.It's where days glide into nights like a passing ship. Where the swaying of a cornfield tells you the time of year. Where walking down a muddy path and hearing the sound of birds allows one to remember that life can stand still. It is watching the waves and walking along a beach and remembering those walks you had as a child and then seeing that life really has not changed much. It is listening to your heart as the wind calls your name it is seeing the price and value of simple things and that this place you once called home really is tugging at your heart to be a part of it again. As I type this over three thousand miles from North Norfolk I am reminded God does not lay things on our hearts for nothing. I one day will find my own way home again to my North Norfolk maybe a little older in body but and maybe just a little more appreciative of this part of the world that has captured my heart and calls me home.