24 Jul
Image of the Week – 220 (Artist’s Eyrie)
The vaulted, glass and timber annexe in the garden would make a self-contained artist’s eyrie flooded with natural light. On the market for offers over £350,000, the former lodge house has been expensively renovated and has almost three acres. There are two bedrooms and a shower room in the main house – a third is across the lawn in the annexe.
Back in 1971, I wrote a foreword to the Travel Diary I started as I set off on my other-worldly journeys. Having spent several summer and Easter breaks from teaching in inner London by exploring Ireland, I hoped my dotage would be spent in a country cottage in Donegal keeping goats and enjoying visits from my grandchildren while satisfying my muse by painting landscapes.
Life has a way of changing hopes, dreams and ambitions, not that I’ve had any of the latter. But I do treasure the nostalgia of tramping the British hills, the Mountains of Mourne, Lake District, South Downs, Brecon Beacons, and the borderlands which divide England and Scotland.
However, I’ve got used to tropical climes and really don’t like winters, so as much house in the above photo really appeals, all I can do is sigh and think ‘ho hum …”
