I Have a Dream!

Those famous, immortal words of Martin Luther King inspire this blog.

Or how’s about the quote from one of my favourite films, Pretty Woman..?

 “Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'.”

I appreciate I may come across as ‘grumpy author’ in my blogs, and I’m really not.

Today I thought I’d share my dream with you (come and see my fluffy side)…

In my “spare” time (you know when I’m not writing, working in the day job, being a part time step mum etc.) I am a holistic therapist. 
I genuinely like helping people feel better. I started as a beauty therapist and hated waxing as it was the one thing I did which inflicted pain on others, all in the name of a good cause, but pain nonetheless (I’m shuddering just typing that!). I always enjoyed the gentler treatments such as facials and massages, as I could feel people relax under my fingertips. I gradually added some holistic treatments, and became a Reiki Master.

My dream is to have a farmhouse in the English countryside. I have a vision of this farmhouse; it has a wooden gate with a sweeping gravel driveway. There is a paddock out the front (as I will keep and help horses too). There is an overhang above the front door, not a porch as such, but I stand with my head against a wooden beam sipping from a steaming cup of coffee. There is a ‘granny annexe’ so humans can come to stay. 
Many of us get swamped by the ‘rat race’ and it can become overwhelming. My farmhouse retreat will offer them the opportunity to hit the pause button. Escape to tranquillity!

You can stay in the self-contained annexe if you choose, or eat dinner with us in the main house (can you smell the chicken casserole with dumplings? Aahh!). 
My husband and I are great listeners (and counselling trained). In our lounge with a roaring fire, we will sit and listen to your woes until you’re all talked out. Having released yourself of all that emotional baggage you will be ready to heal. You can do physical work around the farm (helping to groom/ride the horses or looking after the crop in the vegetable patch). Immerse yourself in nature as you stroll through the woodland walks on the doorstep. And you can even get some Reiki from yours truly. Then, when you’re ready, you can go back into your world and you’ll have a clearer idea of what you need to do to be where you want to be.

Hmmmm…do you feel refreshed already?

Sadly, being the English countryside this comes with a hefty price tag, so I’m still working my way towards this peaceful, healing dream. So, if there are any philanthropic millionaires reading this please do feel free to get in touch!

I need to be able to pay for the house in full. I will charge for the stay, but those on lower incomes should not be excluded, and can contribute instead by helping out around the farm or e.g. if they’re an artist they can paint a picture for us.

I want to live as self-sufficiently as possible. I respect our planet and would love to minimise my impact on Gaia as much as I can. I hope to be able to install a ‘wind tree’ to generate our electricity (Google it, they’re awesome!), and to live off the fruit and veg grown on our farm. 

Despite being allergic to their stings, I also want to have a beehive as our nation’s bees are really having a tough time. Plus then I get some yummy honey!

Of course, having said lifestyle will also hopefully allow a bit more writing time too, so you can enjoy even more TL Clark novels.

Freaky story; a while back that vision of my farmhouse started to become stronger and stronger, until I could almost smell the hay in the fields. So I drew it (very badly; art is regrettably not a talent I possess). A few days after I wondered how much money I would need to achieve my dream so I went onto a property search engine, and low and behold, there was almost the identical image to the one I’d drawn, with horses in the paddock and everything! It was even in the right area! Tragically, I didn’t have £1.2million, and someone else did, so it’s since been sold. But I do believe that when the time is right the house will be there for me to buy.

OK I told you mine, now tell me yours! I’d love to hear what dreams and goals you have please.