Had it been someplace cool and green like England, we could have left the paddocks to nature and created a wildflower meadow. That is simply not doable here in Australia where the local shire council mandates a cut-back of any grass that is over a few inches high due to the risk of bush-fires. It is a firm but sensible approach to keeping people alive and I completely agree with it. But it also means that Mark spends hours on a tractor when he would rather be engaging in something artistic or creative. He misses that free time to just let the muse weave spells in his brain and I have longed to give that freedom back to him.

So we signed the listing contract with our new agent last week, the sign went up on Thursday, and the listing went live online today at realestate.com.au.

It’s a beautiful little gem of a house and it’s perfect for a full time resident OR for a weekender property — and the huge art studio makes it quite desirable. The combined size of the cottage-sized house and the art studio make it all bigger (and more sensible given that we have no children in residence) than our previous 3 bedroom, 2 story house down in Melbourne. So now we just wait for the right person to come along and we begin the sorting out process.

And what lies ahead? What kind of house would we like next? As much as we never thought we’d say this, I think we’ll settle for a bog-standard sized lot this time and we’ll look for a nice-ish house to rehab. Then we’ll plant our garden and fruit trees and know that we might actually have the time to get on the train and go into the city for a trip to the theatre or museum without getting too far off schedule back at the property.

Dreams of rural living are one thing — the reality is quite something else — especially when you have two creative and artistic people living under one roof and neither of them wants to sacrifice the creative hours to maintenance issues.

Ah well — live and learn!