"Don't fence me in..."

My attention has recently been drawn to a blog (now made into a book) of a young wife and mother of three, whose husband wanted to move the family to the wide open spaces of rural Northumberland. It goes by the title: " Wife in the North" and tells of the enormous upheaval relocating from the bustling bright lights of London to the remoteness of a small Northumbrian backwater.It is a very amusing and insightful blog and mirrors many of my experiences on doing the same thing some four years ago.Whilst my motives for moving North were somewhat different, and having had three of my four children already left home, I can nonetheless relate to the emotions and bewilderment of being so far removed from the comfort derived from familiarity.

It was four years ago this week that my husband, daughter and I uprooted ourselves from the hustle and bustle of "the smoke". Everything that I knew and loved was gone in the three hundred mile drive up the A1/M. Family, friends, streets and local amenities that I had grown up with faded from the rear view mirror as we sped our way to a new life.

Yes, it was hard to adapt to the quietness and remoteness of a more rural setting, and yes I did find myself longing to just pop on one of the frequent trains to Charing Cross to visit a familiar tourist attraction (not that I did this much when I lived there!) But time has taught me to appreciate the amazing place in which I now find myself living.

Northumberland is the Uk's best kept secret! Golden, sandy beaches that stretch for miles, deserted but for the occasional dog and it's owner.Magnificent castles that suddenly surprise you as you come around a corner. Wide, vast skies that go on forever and the darkness of night,black and solid, devoid of the orange glow of street lights and illuminated office blocks.

Yesterday I had to deliver a wedding cake to a country house hotel and then drive on to the Market town of Alnwick to take part in a food fair promoting local produce. As I motored along the country roads I couldn't help but think how lucky I was to have all this on my doorstep. I drove for miles without seeing more than a handful of other cars. The undulating hills and fields, sheep and cows grazing peacefully, farmers harvesting their crops. What a pleasure to live in such a wonderful place.