I think that I would find it very difficult to live more than a short walk from the sea, at this point in my life.
I didn’t grow up by the sea. I grew up in Buckinghamshire and my weekends were more likely to be spent exploring central London, than the coast. In fact until I was 19, I only saw the sea once a year, if I was lucky.
I spent most of my teenage years struggling with chronic illness and the long days spent indoors, on my own, made me feel anxious in busy towns and cities. Anywhere, where there was more than a few people.
A family trip to Cornwall gave me a break from all of that. The clean, fresh air and hours spent in the sunshine, made me feel better than I had in a long time. Being by the sea – looking out over the endless blue, made me feel alive again. Anxiety slipped away and was replaced with a sense of freedom. Depression from years of ill health, was replaced by joy in my surroundings.
So I moved to Cornwall when I was 19 and although I never lived on the coast there, the sea was only ever a short drive away.
My children tottered along the sand as they took their wobbly toddler steps; they fell asleep to the sound of the waves, wrapped in a towel. We spent happy days rockpooling and scrambling over rocks and when life’s tricky bits came along the sea was always there for me. Troubles slipping away with the tide.
When we moved to the Orkney Islands, the coast became an even bigger part of our lives. Always in sight, only a short walk away, it was our playground; our classroom; our craft shop. Little treasures found on our walks along the coast, started to fill every windowsill. Shells and sand could be found in every pocket. In fact sand could be found everywhere! So the sea was always with us.
When we started to plan our move away from the Orkney Islands, I tried to imagine a life away from the coast. We looked at all areas of Scotland, with easy access to further and higher education and jobs being a priority for our oldest three, and wild places to explore for our youngest two.
There are so many beautiful places in Scotland to choose from. I love the mountains in the highlands and along the west coast, they make me feel intensely, emotionally charged.
I also love the woodland and forests. As much as my children spent many happy days by the sea, as they were growing up, they also spent a lot of time playing in Cornwall’s beautiful woodlands. Foraging, building dens, looking at beetles, slow worms, squirrels and deer.
The mountains call to me, the woodland speaks to my soul, but the coast always has my heart.
If I haven’t seen the sea for a couple of days, I start to feel restless, uneasy. If we’ve been adventuring inland and are driving home, there is always that moment when the sea suddenly comes back into view and it’s like seeing someone very dear to you, after being apart. My heart lifts, my tensions ease away and there is always that spark of joy and wonder!
A memory of one week spent on the east coast of Scotland, five years earlier, led to us choosing our new home here. The sea is still only a short walk away, I still work in the early morning to a dawn chorus of thousands of sea bird voices. Sand can still be found in all of our pockets and trapped in the seams of our shoes.
I can also see the mountains in the distance and a wealth of woodland and forests are only a short drive away, so it is the perfect mix for me.
Dundee and Aberdeen are a bus or train ride away, making it easy for our teens and twenty somethings to start building their own lives and eventually their own adventures.
Breakfast adventures by waterfalls, pond dipping, dolphin spotting and trips to museums and galleries, mean that our youngest two are always busy and living their best lives.
A happy move then?
Yes. A good move, and I am so grateful to still have the sea on my doorstep.
The past few months of living on the east coast, has been a time of re-awakening and healing.
We have so much to be grateful for, but that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been lots of challenges to navigate too.
Those early days of chronic illness left me with a desire to always make the most of life, to cram in as much as much as possible, to throw myself at everything with 100%. Unfortunately, that can lead to me not making time for the rest that my body relies on, to stay well.
This move then, has also been a chance to reset.
The coast is there, holding my hand, guiding me back to calm waters that lap gently onto the shore.
Taking me back to those early days on Rousay, when the world just slowed down, so that I could catch my breath.
We have plans to spend as much time as possible outside over the next few months and a big chunk of that will be by the coast. We have added a few things to our nature education kit this month, so that we can take our learning outside with us, getting to know the natural world around us, in this new part of Scotland.
As I walked one of our favourite stretches of coast this morning, with Matt, Lark and Wren, I felt filled up to the brim with everything that is good in the world. The strength is returning to my body and with it my spirit is starting to soar. I will store up these wonderful times, like a daffodil soaking up the sunshine through its leaves, to strengthen the bulb. That store of energy keeping me going through winter, to burst into bloom each spring.
I will continue to feel the years fall away as I race down the beach with my girls, to explore the caves, the waterfalls and see who can find the most amazing pebbles (there’s never a winner, there are just so many good ones!).
Do let me know what you love most about the coast.
