Introducing our new correspondent
I spent most of my career in corporate communications, writing for many of the UK’s leading companies, colleges and charities, on subjects as diverse as education, architecture and overseas development, not to mention modern dance, aromatherapy, wildlife conservation and plumbing.
You name it, I’ve probably written about it at some time or another.
As a child, however, I dreamed of living in the country, with as many animals as possible. I eventually escaped from London with my dogs in 1998 and settled in a quiet Mid-Devon village where, with the help of my two Labradors, I now run Barkington Towers - canine-friendly, home-from-home accommodation for dogs whose owners are away. These days, I write mainly for my own pleasure and enjoy travel and photography. There are no plans to return to London… Diane Trembath, February 2011
Diane writes:
I never take for granted the fact that the dogs and I live in one of the most glorious parts of the country, where it is still possible to get away from it all and not see a soul all day.
Our night sky is velvet black, all the better to stargaze. Nevertheless, I do sometimes hanker for a change of surroundings and to have some one-to-one time with my own dogs. So, on the rare occasions when no canine guests are booked in at Barkington Towers, we head to the Chilterns to stay with my family.
The younger Labrador particularly appreciates morning walks along the Thames towpath and, on a gloriously sunny day, with light dancing on water, it is rather a magical place. Sometimes we have the path to ourselves, with just the occasional blue-green flash of a kingfisher, along the water’s edge, or swans, geese, moorhens and coots, with their young. And what better way for a dog to cool down than a dip in the river?
The elderly Labrador can no longer manage long walks but she does appreciate the joys of padding in and out of my family’s level garden, so much easier than our challenging hillside plot in Devon.
There are excellent, well-signposted footpaths right across the Chilterns (an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and it is hard to believe that London is so near. This is a photographer’s paradise, with something to catch the eye at every turn, from the gentle hills and ancient woodlands, to the picturesque old brick and flint houses and medieval churches.
Dogs and their owners are welcome and well catered for at many of the historic pubs. We spent an hour or so at a favourite local on an early summer’s evening; the humans watching the river go by, the younger Labrador watching the gradual disappearance of a substantial, home-baked pie on the next table. Ever hopeful but invariably thwarted.
By the time we returned to Exmoor, everything in my own garden was bursting into bloom.
Time for the annual ritual of making elderflower champagne and cordial – a sure sign that summer has arrived. It must be something about the fragrance of the flowers, gathered at mid-day, and the lemons piled up beside them, enjoying one final – albeit English - sunbathe before they are transformed into something utterly delicious.
The dogs don’t know what they’re missing.
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