Arrival
We are early.
Progress down the M5 can be as swift and smooth as sugar spilling out of a split bag or as frustratingly slow as a watched kettle. Today it has been a straightforward journey, the workman-less roadworks are under populated and traffic is moving apace.
Even a "Road closed " sign just outside our target village did not impede our journey - the closure, such as it was, being approximately 30m beyond the entrance to Otter Farm.
Now I would always rather be early than late, but too early is no better mannered in my view than late. So we park, out of the way, in a farm entrance and steel ourselves to listen to the 9 o'clock news on Radio 4. So far, Donald Trump has not blown anything up (besides Obamacare grrrr) and 9 more people have been rescued from the avalanche hit hotel in Italy.
It's going to be a good day.
We refer to our instructions and pull into a lay by.
"This is it," I confidently announce.
"How can you tell? Are you sure?"
"Look over the gate"
"That's it?"
Oh yes, that, very definitely, is IT.
Otter Farm, star of Grand Designs, partially financed by a hugely successful Crowdfunding campaign that had me and many, many more dipping their hands in to their pockets, enthused and inspired by Mark and Candida's vision, is unmistakeable.
Distinctive, arresting, a fascinating combination of traditional methods, materials and crafts providing the structure for a thing of contemporary beauty and functionality.
It's only as I write this that I realise I could, on a smaller scale, be describing our cookware. Never off the job!
Minutes later and Candida is opening the gates and welcoming us, more than happy to let Neil gawp in admiration at these awesome buildings. Awesome, a word hijacked and abused by a generation, really is the right word to use here, the house and cookery school leaving us wonder-struck and marvelling at both their physical beauty and creative construction.
Neil leaves, off to visit Devon dwelling family. I enter the house and as the front door closes behind me, the day really does begin. MY DAY.
© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2017
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