Living Amongst Nature
(Stroud 2020 - Sorry- Pictures to come..)
Lucy and I moved to Stroud a few months ago. Stroud is located in the Cotswolds, an hour from Bath where we used to live. Despite Bath being a beautiful city with nature surrounding the valley Bath lies in, we are adoring the serene spots near our home in Stroud. This article is to articulate a bit of that. In 2016, within a few days of flying into Delhi, I travelled up to the nature heaven of Kashmir. I decided to live with a local family for a month in a Himalayan Kashmiri village. This helped me to immerse myself into nature and was a beginning of a new inward journey.
Stroud District hosts three major National Trust ‘Commons’: Minchinhampton Common, Rodborough Common and Selsley Common. All three are vast areas of land, covered by grass, free to roam. Each have stunning views from particular points. And cows graze with their long and thick hair.
The Heavens is another place of, (in my view) outstanding natural beauty. The heavens contains several valleys of lush green grass and meadows as well as woodland areas. Rabbits run across the footpaths and there are streams that run in at least two valleys. Trickling streams do something for my soul. A little while ago I took my childhood friend to the Heaven’s. Annoh said: “Every river has a starting point. Its a great reminder for me to take some time to realign ourselves to the core of our beings, Reevaluating why we do you what we do and Provide the opportunity to reconnect in our origins. They heaven’s stream definitely Exceeded doing just that”.
Thirdly, Woodchester Park is an additional place of abundant nature. Although I am yet to explore much of the park, I feel its importance with its potential for me. Woodchester Park is some 531 acres of woodland, lakes and wildlife to get to know!
Finally, I’ll bring it home: Lucy and I can feel like we’re renting a garden with a home! The garden is a haven, a place of beauty, a place of peace. With a cyprus tree, two apple trees, two plum trees, a greenhouse of veg ripening and flowers dotted around. Nature is literally talking to us with frequent bird visits. So with Ayurveda being Yoga’s sister science- with lifestyle at the core of its meaning; we are attempting to soak in the abundance and nourishment of these incredible places.
Namaste.
Ps. Some of you will know I have written a collection of Poems: Loud Silence, Hugging the Himalayan Hills (Northern India and Nepal). This book was written in 2016 and slight edits up until August 2021. My sister Zoe has produced a front cover and I will be sending off a cover letter to various poetry agents in the coming weeks. Super exciting!
Dom x
