Wednesday 6 March 2013

Looking further, delving deeper.

Tomorrow evening The Rector 2B will become The Rector of this Dorset benefice. That's it then - I will officially be a Rector's Wife. I didn't think that I would end up as a rector's wife (very Joanna Trollope). Vicars and rectors do basically the same job today and the different names stem from how they were paid many years ago - I think. To our son's Australian friend, 'rector' was an unfamiliar title and so the title has been the butt of many jokes!
I'm learning about living in a rectory - people drop in "just for a few minutes" or "a quick word" - which are usually neither a few minutes or quick! As The Rector 2B is frantically trying to put up coat hooks, fix draughts, move cupboards and....tidy study before he starts officially, these visitors can be quite time consuming. The visits have also brought a couple of other problems to our attention -

1. The dogs do not like the new door bell. Chaos reigns as we try to get to the door while the dogs (led by the Collie) race to the door, sounding like the Hounds of the Baskervilles. Some visitors have been heading down the drive by the time we get to open the door.

2. The Rectory Front Door is extremely temperamental - making it a battle to shut. The property people have put a very expensive new lock on it but I came down in the middle of the night to find the door wide open. I made several attempts to slam the door shut (which must have sounded like gun shots echoing up the pitch black road) and tried some gentle persuasive shoves - to no avail. The door has a mind of its own and swells and shrinks at will. This means that the lock can be in the right position one day and not the next. The door also is very good on hot days as it well vented along the top and the bottom, through the joints and the hole in the bottom panel. I'm sure we will appreciate it when the weather turns warmer .

The walking and the weather have been fantastic - we are discovering new paths all the time. We are so pleased to find that we can reach high points very quickly, and on clear days, we are rewarded with magnificent views over the countryside towards the south coast. It seems lighter and brighter even on grey days and we feel that we are treading ancient routes - long ago used by travellers between the villages. Now we see very few people - the occasional walker or rider but mostly we have the countryside to oursleves. We pass thatched cottages and pretty churches - six of the churches being The Rector2B's responsibility. After the one in our village, the next nearest church, is this pretty Victorian church which was built at the expense of the estate owner. It is not situated in a village and only has a service once a month. It has a wonderful plaque on the tower with shields and a helmet and sword that is reminiscent of 'when a knight won his spurs in the stories of old....'

We are beginning to appreciate what a beautiful place we have landed in  - again! England really is a spectacular country to explore.
It's all very exciting!


7 comments:

  1. Good luck with the front door, and the 'short visits'. I really like your photos, and yes, England is very spectacular, even if I can only see it in the blogosphere.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so pleased that you have had some bright sunny days (judging by the photographs). There's nothing like sunshine for making everything seem better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello - yes - the weather has been glorious - I just hope that wasn't summer!

      Delete
  3. The next chapter of your life is about to begin:) Already you have an 'exciting' beginning ... mysterious doors, visitors etc etc, and some glorious scenery to enjoy, even if some was accessed by climbing scaffolding!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello! How good to see you here. It is exciting and less daunting now - I was beginning to think I was too old for change but I think it was because we were so very tired.

      Delete
  4. That is a truly gorgeous landscape and how nice to see another of your 6 churches. The settling-in hitches like the temperamental door and dog-unfriendly doorbell will hopefully soon be sorted and your lines have indeed fallen in pleasant places.

    ReplyDelete