Endless Days of Summer | Slow Living in The English Countryside 🌿

Hello friends. This year we've been enjoying an unusually hot summer here in England. Each day is filled with endless sunshine, which, though very welcome, I must say feels rather strange for this stereotypically rainy and cold part of the world. I live in a landlocked county, where sadly there aren't many opportunities for a refreshing wild swim, so shaded woodlands are my only sanctuary outdoors. I was asked the other day how am I not afraid of ticks or spiders or other bugs, constantly walking through nature, legs and arms bare, sitting in tall grass and laying amongst flowers. We are very lucky here, as we don't get nearly as many ticks and other pesky bugs really. I hear stories from northern and eastern Europe where you can't go outside without wearing the proper attire, or else you'd get bitten by various kinds of insects. Luckily this isn't the case here, as long as you stay off visible deer trails. This would not be the case in some other parts of the UK, however. I so long to go to Scotland again, spend some time in the mountains, but I think I'll wait patiently for autumn, just to avoid encounters with all sorts of creepy crawlies. For now, I'll stop trying to change or hurry time, and try to enjoy this warm summer to the fullest. Of course, there are many jobs to be done in summer, especially if you're surrounded by nature, many activities to partake in, but I also find that summers, just like winters, are very lovely, if they can be enjoyed unhurried sometimes. Appreciate at full what they are and embraced for their imperfection. They both present the perfect opportunity to find moments of stillness and reflection, when your busy life and never-ending task list gets drenched in sunshine and you get to breathe in a little. Lift your face to the sun, realize that if you don't drink up the sweet scent of summer now when you can, it will all end way too fast. That's what these long summer evenings are for, really. One of my favorite things about summer is the abundance of seasonal fruits and berries. I must admit, I am consuming my weight on peaches, cherries, strawberries and watermelons lately. Sometimes when I get too many and they start to go bad a little, I use them up for fruit crumbles. My favorite type of dessert in summer or any season, really, topped with an enormous amount of ice cream, of course. Now, as I'm saying this while sweating in 31 degree heat, I think myself crazy for even thinking of switching on the oven and cooking something up, but temptations are too strong. Today I had some peaches and nectarines that needed using up. I used to dislike fruit when I was a child, as I really didn't like the sensation of biting into it and the juices dribbling down my chin. When, as an adult, I discovered that we have free will and my fruit can be cut into pieces and biting is not required, that was a big life changer for me. Anyway, back to peach and nectarine crumble. It's the easiest thing to make, as all you do is remove the pits, cut fruit up into small chunks, add sugar, cinnamon and bake for a bit while you make the crumble topping. You can stew them instead in a small pan, but I didn't want to wash any extra dishes. The real purpose is to just soften them up and caramelize. The crumble topping consists of flour, oats, cold butter, sugar and optionally some lemon zest. Mix it up, spread on top of fruit and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. That's it, really. I will, as usual, leave the recipe in the description. In the meantime, let's visit a beautiful coastal village called Snows Hill. We went there on the way to lavender fields, on a day when the sun finally hid behind clouds and gave way to most refreshing cool wind. You might recognize Snows Hill if you're a Bridget Jones' fan, as this village was featured in the snowy scenes from the movie. Oh yes, the lavender and wildflower fields in the Cotswolds. I've been meaning to visit for years already. Step into the rolling hills painted purple, inhale the calming scent and listen to bees hum quietly as they collect flower nectar. It was a rather great day, a lovely change of pace to the usual sunshine, I must say. I actually don't mind grey clouds at all. Honestly, all summer I'm still waiting for a thunderstorm, which oddly hasn't happened yet this year. It's my favorite of all. I can imagine myself cuddled up by the window at home while the thunder rolls in on a summer evening, ink clouds painting the sky, heavy warm raindrops rejuvenating the ground after a hot spell. There is something so romantic in it, isn't there? But alas, these slow, sticky, sunny summer days continue. I daydream a little before getting on with my busy life. There are still so many things I want to do this summer, so little time. I guess cats sometimes worried a bit about the pace of the passing time, trying to grasp it, hold on to it, but it slips away regardless. All I can do is close my eyes and open my face to sunshine, stare at the sky on a long, bright evening instead of an artificially illuminated screen of my computer. You know, that's exactly what I'm going to do now. Thank you for being here with me today. If you would like to see more content from me, don't forget to check out my membership page, it is linked in the description. I will see you again soon.