Living in The Fens

Right now the wind is whipping at about 45 mph outside my house and there is nothing to stop it. My curtains are blowing in the breeze and my windows are shut. I don't know if that says more about the quality of the windows in this house or the force of the wind! There aren't many trees where I live because the land used to be covered with water. So there isn't anything to naturally block the wind when it decides to whip up. And it does. Frequently.

You see, up until the 1600's the whole area was a swampland. Then some Duke decided that he would rather have the swampland turned into farmland and brought in the Dutch. The Dutch, being the master of all that is water related control, somehow managed to drain the swamps and with a system of ditches and pump (from what I can gather). The ditches I know about because I drive next to them daily. They are about 10-15 feet deep and usually filled about a quarter of the way up with water. Kinda scary when they are about 10 feet off to the side of a 60mph road. You don't want to wreck around here.

However, aside from the wind and the scary ditches there are so many cool things about living around here. There are farms everywhere with fresh produce. I have even gotten free potatoes once because a tractor dropped about half a load and the farmer decided that it would be too much trouble to pick them up. They just put out a sign that said "courtesy of the Sedge Fen farmers". Best potatoes I have ever had in my life. There is also fact that we are only 15 min away from Ely, a town full of history and a convenient train station to London; and only 30 minutes from Bury St Edmunds, which has great shopping. It is also really quiet. I know most of my neighbors.

I guess it just really fits my style of living....I just wish my curtains weren't blowing when my windows are closed.