Pilsdon, England

Okay, so I wasn't really sure where I was going this time around. I had a vague idea and Nicole would be there so I was up for an adventure. After a train, a bus, a train and another bus I had finally arrived at the train station where Nicole was there to collect me to bring finally show me where she'd been keeping herself busy for the last few months. I went to spend Easter Week end with her where she was now working on a self sustaining community out in the middle of the rolling green pastures of South Western England -- affectionally known as the Pilsdon Community.


Pilsdon community for those of you are wondering is a place where people go to sort their lives out. It's like taking a time out from everything to collect your thoughts, dust yourself off and get on with it life again. Very peaceful and a strong knit community.

Pilsdon community was like something I'd never seen before -- I sort of felt like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie and was about to live my own version of the simple life on this farm, except I'd like to think that I had a little bit more smarts about the whole situation. There were cows, chickens, geese, ducks, pigs, donkey's and chickens there to great me and some of the most lovely people that I could have hoped to come across to spend Easter week end with.


The place was busy with life. There was a larger than usual group of people there for the Easter week end, but everyone seemed to have an assigned role within this little community in order to keep things going. There was someone hanging the laundry, someone milking the cows twice a day, feeding the chickens, shaping the butter that was made from the cows milk, preparing dinner and planning out tomorrows lunches. Brilliant. I had suddenly been reverted back to when I was 5 years old and had been visiting a farm... I was estatic.



There was this huge house that was the hub of activity. It was so big that it was maze like to me and I often wandered in and out of rooms wondering how I ended up there. There was always someone doing something to peak my interest in this place and I wondered how I could ever find the motivation to leave -- I thought this was all so amazing.



If there was a place where I could say that I ate myself chubby it would be here. Breakfast at 8-8:30, morning tea with biscuits at 11 am, lunch at 1pm, afternoon tea & toast at 4pm and finally dinner at 7 pm with dessert. Oh my. There were plenty of first there for me and everyone had a good laugh about it -- little things that they had taken for granted in life were the things I'd never had eaten ever. It was mind boggling to them that they asked if I had heard of grocery stores where I'd grown up. Rice pudding, lamb, parsnips, custard were amoungst the few things that I hadn't ever eaten. At Meal time one of the men would turn to me and crack a joke about my inexperience with English food... it was a great time.



As I eventually blended myself into the group I too was delegated duties, but didn't mind one bit. Nicole had allowed me to help her plan and make lunch one day which as it turned out, was a 4 hours job, beginning at 9:30 am to have lunch prepared for 1 pm. Wow. Another time I was able to make bread for everyone and of course, since I had been given the opportunity to be in the kitchen again I couldn't very well go without making some banana bread for everyone. Even making Banana Bread was an adventure -- I realized that I didn't have enough eggs. Forget about going to the grocery store... I was sent straight to the chicken coop and got my eggs straight from under the hen. A friendly reminder as to where our food really comes from... I felt so guilty taking the eggs from under this hen that I would have rathered to not make banana bread... but that would just be silly.


Nights were spend sitting around talking over tea and playing some scrabble. It was great. I had the opportunity to hear stories from other travellers like myself, some who had been travelling with a bag on their back for up to 25 years. Each person had their own charm and amazing stories -- I was in heaven.

We took walks out into the country side. The country side had the greenest pastures I'd ever laid eyes on and were littered with life. Sheeps and lambs were everywhere and the growns of cows filled the air along with baaa's of the sheep, it was surreal. I found myself a favorite spot, it was called Pilsdon Pen. It was one of the highest peaks around and I would hike up there daily just to lay in the sun and take it all in. It was a nice place to collect my thoughts and to realize just how lucky I am.

The mountain that I loved sitting up on...and what's got me to all of these great places....

I had spent a total of 4 nights there and although I secretly had no intentions of leaving, the expanding wasteline of mine had lead me with no other choice but to go. While I was there I had made some great connetions with both the workers and the people living there so, as it stands, I've received an invitation to go back and I will surely will not pass that up.