Rural Adventure

Reportage 13595373 | © living4media / Narratives / Sanderson, Robert | 32 images

When Lucy and Anthony left London for a Hampshire village house, they embraced a new lifestyle as well as a new way of celebrating their family Christmas. Lucy Wakefield’s countdown to Christmas kicks off when Christmas lights switch on in her village and an invitation to an evening of carols and mulled wine arrives through her letter- box. ‘This is typical of the friendly all inclusive hospitality that characterises our village, ’ says Lucy who arrived to live there three years ago with her husband Anthony and their two small children, Lara and Oscar. ‘ The evening of carols is when everyone piles into the barn for a festive sing- a- long. The nativity service at the Saxon church in the village is also an all- inclusive fun event. The children dress up according to what part they intend to play. We usually end up with a lot of little girls dressed as Mary, lots of little boys dressed as kings and toddlers dressed as sheep. ‘Both she and Anthony were brought up in London so moving to the country was something of an unknown adventure, but when Anthony started to trip over toys strewn across the kitchen floor of their three bedroomed coach house in Surbiton, it was clearly time to move.