Once upon a time……I find a story everywhere!

Stories enchant me ever since my Faraway tree days. Have always wanted to have a Moonface and a saucepan man in my circle of friends, and a land which changes every hour somewhere above me! Never happened though but I still made my own stories with whatever I did and wherever we went.

The traveling bug never left our home and each holiday we explored some part of our country. So, I had stories from sanctuaries and holiday homes and ferry rides and sudden punctured tyres. The magic of all those years stayed in my head. When I made my stories, I wondered if people around me thought me an irreparable romantic – I did not care though.And then the unthinkable happened, I started finding stories everywhere I went. I wasn’t quaint after all!! The Lavender farm was started by a family of three whose origins were in freezing Canada. They wanted to utilize the land they had inherited (and what a fragrant way to do it too). Their charming shop had been done up in the most distinctive way with personal touches everywhere. The washroom had a photo frame painted on the wall in lavender and it told us to: Keep calm and carry lavender. It was bound to bring a smile to even the most constipated visitor, I’m sure! The fields were lavender, the tractor was lavender, the knick knacks on the farm tables were lavender, the ceiling had lavender hanging, the products inside were all of lavender including a most delicious chocolate lavender and lavender manuka honey ice cream, I wonder how the honey bees managed to retain their golden yellow color in the midst of all this?

The magic did not end there. It was everywhere from the washroom to the shop to the tables to the fields, to the animals to the bees to the rustic games set up in the midst and a scarecrow which brought more mirth than a scare to anyone in his vicinity. Charlie the custodian of the “veggies” looked quite charmed himself with the enchanting place and the voodoo had given way to a kind of magnetism. I in fact posed with him and duplicated his pose too – looked quite exquisite myself!

The sundial on a table told me that time never stood still yet I wanted it to halt in its tracks right then, for ever! I have wondered each time I have visited such places as to what makes them sparkle and allure me so much. And each time the answer seems unambiguous and stares in my face – their work is not just a hobby, but their passion and they take pride in what they have and value it zealously.