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And so that was a Year In Wivenhoe. Twelve months ago today, @AnnaJCowen and I said goodbye to Sunny Stockwell after fifteen years of doing the Lambeth Walk.

OI!!!!

…and then some, Comrades.

The Great Escape was all about finding the Good Life. Instead we’ve found a garden come courgette minefield, some toxic sloe gin and a crazed cat.

What time is the last train back to Liverpool Street?

I wrote some twelve months ago:

“I’ve been enlightened, enriched and inspired by London. But it comes at a high price, both financially and physically. London demands everything of you. There’s no hiding away if you want to experience the benefits that this city has to offer – you’re either in or you’re out.

After fifteen years of running around town, it’s time to come up for some air. We both need a break, and one that allows us to put our feet up, laze around in the garden with a bottle of bolly and just generally live a slower pace of life.”

So what went wrong?

The past year has probably been the busiest of my life. Various work projects have taken off unexpectedly across a number of different fronts. The fantasy of working to live, rather than living to work, remains just that.

But it’s all good stuff. I’m blessed in having the freedom to be more or a less a digital nomad, being based at home for the majority of my projects. My weekly trips back to South London provide a nice balance, plus the chance to stock up on Di Lieto South London olive bread.

Wivenhoe is in desperate need of a quality bakery.

Outside of paid for projects and I’ve been busy exploring the new place that we are starting to call our home.

To quote the Pop Genius of this Parish:

“Till one day you wake and find.
When your summer’s far behind.
Life’s great lawn remains unmowed.
And you have been Wivenhoed”

It’s not quite been having an unmowed lawn; more a case of constantly cutting it back and trying to keep the borders in order - all in a metaphorical sense you understand.

@AnnaJCowen’s concern upon leaving South London was WTF are we going to do for fun? The girl had a point, and we both made a lot of personal sacrifices in moving out to these estuary wilds:

“I’m giving up pretty much everything that has been my social existence for a third of my life: the korfball club, watching cricket, the cycling community at Herne Hill and of course the lovely lido.”

I reasoned with her at that time that there is a social existence to be discovered in Wivenhoe. You just need to make contacts and see what opportunities and experiences come your way:

“As for m’blog? Well, it never really was about South London per se – more about my life in South London. The Wivenhoe lifestyle will undoubtedly present many new opportunities, and I’ll probably end up blogging all about these.”

But the Girl doesn’t blog and if truth be known, isn’t the greatest social media tart. Interact and opportunities will come, I told her.

I wasn’t expecting the great fortune that has come our way simply through writing a daily dose of hyperlocal twaddle and then passing it off as blog post. The Wivenhoe Forum has further added to this shared dialogue.

We have both been incredibly grateful to the welcomes and invites that have we have received since we first arrived around these North Essex parts. There simply hasn’t been enough time to make the most of these opportunities. Hopefully these are for the summer months of unmowed lawns to come.

As for the best bits?

Blimey.

Where to start?

Colchester was way off my radar. Trips to Britain’s Oldest Recorded were to be avoided, I thought. I stumbled upon the growing community at 15 Queen Street and haven’t really looked back. Friendships have developed into work partnerships, with hopefully more to come over the next few months. Firstsite and the Colchester Free Festival fill me with immense optimism for what is to come.

Moving Image helped us out during a tricky moving in phase when a digital TV signal seemed a lost cause. Having an independent cinema in a town the size of Wivenhoe is a feat of punching above your weight that you wouldn’t even witness in a Rocky film.

The Great Outdoors has of course been a constant. Witnessing the changing seasons is something that you just don’t get a sense of living in South London. There has been an almost childlike return to our days of us both growing up in rural village life.

Of course you know about the four seasons, the sheep go Baaa and the cows go Moo etc. But when a walk out towards the Creek, or along Ferry Marsh or even to Brightlingsea is an instant possibility, engaging with Mother Nature makes the daily toil seem trivial.

Like I said some twelve months ago:

“Yep - I’m becoming a hippy.”

The estuary winter was harsh, but it had its rewards. Battling past the icicles in order to leave the house wasn’t something that we did back in Sunny Stockwell.

Events such as Halloween, the wonderful WORC Quayside fireworks and the complete social calendar offered up by the fine folk of the Wivenhoe Society are enough to keep any shy and retiring socialite occupied.

The swimming, cycling and cricket have all been replaced by swimming, cycling (ACE club) and cricket. Both Wivenhoe Town cricket and football clubs have been absolutely brilliant. Hyperlocal sport to match a hyperlocal belief and budget.

We haven’t gone hungry - or thirsty. On the Corner has seen repeated return visits. We’re finally getting round to experiencing our first Bakehouse meal later this week. Papa’s Chip Shop and his amazing jumbo saveloys “blessed by God” keep me smiling on a Friday evening.

Booze wise and I am reminded of a quote mentioned by a friend some twenty-one years ago when we first lived up at Wivenhoe Park:

“I may have has too much to drink financially, but certainly not metaphysically.”

Chin chin.

We haven’t returned to Wivenhoe Park and the University as much as I was maybe anticipating. Which is no bad thing - time to move on, ‘n all that. The magnificent Lakeside Theatre has been the main pull. It is interesting to observe the Town ‘n Gown developments two decades on, and also with a foot now firmly in the other camp.

The wider surrounds of Wivenhoe haven’t been explored to the potential that I anticipated. Blame those increasing work projects. Great Bentley, Brightlingsea, Clacton, Jaywick, Frinton and Walton - which I absolutely adore - have all been visited.

Rowhedge and I are friends; it has taken a year to finally cross over to Fingringhoe. Mersea, Manningtree and the like are but an ambitious departure from the Sailing Club hard in the canoes. One for next summer, perhaps.

We have found a sense of community in Wivenhoe, but it is one that is so all encompassing that it is often difficult to know where to start. I have loved the few visits that I have made to the Hub. Radio Wivenhoe offers up a great potential. I fear that there is no such thing as society, only Big Society however in the months and cuts to come.

As for the random column?

I remain fascinated by St Peter’s at Alresford; all of our visiting South London friends have absolutely LOVED the ferry and I really should make a return to the Folk Club and the Funny Farm more often. Thursday nights in Wivenhoe seem to have something of a social stack up taking place.

The panto was both bonkers and brilliant; May Fair made me feel slightly old, but equally young at heart. The Grand Garage Trail, the monthly Farmers’ Market, the Colne cleanup, the Bluebells of Wivenhoe Wood, Jazz on the Quay, the Pram Race, the Regatta, the Morris Men of Colchester - all have kept us smiling.

But what of my absolute highlight of A Year in Wivenhoe? Jon Stewart’s amazing Wivenhoe Memories exhibition came a very close second, along with the WAGA show. We hope to be exhibiting next summer…

I have made no secret however of declaring the complete personal joy that was Open Gardens weekend, superbly organised by the Wivenhoe Society. Hippy s*** and hyperlocal community matters combined - it’s what I came here looking for, Comrades.

And so what happens next?

…we bugger off back to South London and spend the next fifteen summers swimming at the lido and getting slowly sloshed at The Oval.

Only joking, Comrades.

A Year in Wivenhoe has been extended.

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