Shutterstock / Maciej Olszewski©Moving house is a massive process. There is so much to prepare for, so much on your to-do list. No matter how much organising goes into it, something is likely to pop up that you hadn’t planned for!
But, once the moving van has been returned, furniture has been manoeuvred and boxes have been unpacked, peace descends.
A colourful surprise
We moved house two weeks ago. We were so busy with the inside of the house, and wondering why we own so many “bits ‘n’ bobs” that we didn’t get to explore the garden.
Of course, we saw the garden when we went to the house viewings, but it was a whistle stop tour. It was also mid-winter. Seeing it in mid-spring was a colourful surprise. The red and yellow tulips and the waving daffodils greeted us.
It was so nice to wander the garden with our expert (my dad). He pointed out the various flowers and shrubs that had been planted by the previous owners.
We added a lawn mower and a hosepipe to our list of things to buy and I’ll be swotting up on our gardening tips.
Getting to know the locals
As well as meeting our human neighbours, we’ve also started to get to know a few of the more feathery locals.
On our first morning we were woken up by the sound of a house sparrow chattering away. It was sat on the outside of our bathroom fan and sounded as though it was giving us a personal wake up call. A lovely way to wake up (except on lazy weekends!).
Another, curious, house sparrow likes to sit on our living room window pane and peek inside.
Looking forward
We also have a growing family of blackbirds in one of the hedges. The dad was not best pleased with us when we rocked up on moving day and started tramping through his territory. He eyed us while he hunted for worms to bring back to his chicks.
We set up a bird feeder as a peace offering. It must have gone down well as it ran out of supplies in a couple of days. I have hope that there are more types of birds visiting us.
It dawned on me that the garden is going to keep on surprising us.
What will bloom in summer to replace the tulips? How will the colours look in autumn? Will we see other wildlife? I’m hoping for hedgehogs!
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Abigail Phillips Abbie is the newest member of the fiction team at the "Friend." She loves how varied the role is - every day is different and there is always a new story to read. She is keen to work closely with established writers and discover new writers, too.
