Where are your happy places?

[UndertheEagle]

I am sitting in my garden, mug of tea in hand, listening to the bees and watching the butterflies. It's my happy place.
I started to think about my other happy places. My top 5 came out as;

My garden in the summer
Charity shops
French pharmacies
Book shops
Italy ( specifically the Amalfi coast)

Where are your top 5 happy places? With friends and family are a given.

My locations are sometimes weather dependent...

In our garden, in nice sunny but cool weather, with my toddler
In the Lake District but specifically when it's raining and we're in the forests or peaks on a dog walk
In a pub next to a fireplace in winter
In my bed with a book
At the airport before going on holiday!

I love a french pharmacy too they’re oasis of calm with all those lovely French skincare brands.

Right now, somewhere cool and away from 15 yo DD whose moods and attitude are seriously getting me down.

Generally, libraries make me happy. Old buildings, quiet churches, old war bunkers, they all feel like good places to be.

The beach
Bed

My bed.
My garden
My sofa

The bluebell woods near my house
Home
Helford River
Being in water
My family home and garden (in my memories)

Jersey
madeira
my mum and dads garden in the sun
a walk in fresh air and Green countryside

My garden and home
A beach with nice sand
my studio

York Minster
Lourdes.

My sitting room
My bed
The local park with my dogs
Basically as close to home as I can get😆

This is one of them. A small, almost hidden little park from the north of which there are lovely sea views.

Any holiday or break away.
My house.

Cape Town
Pennyhill spa
Stockbridge water garden
My livingroom
The cinema.

Anywhere where my kids can’t get in. The loo, for example. Even then they come and find me.

Anywhere away from loud, noisy groups of people. Or my very very very raucous neighbours who insist on throwing a late-nighter every bloody weekend from May -Sep. Lovely people but my God they’re LOUD.

I can only dream of a happy place but it would be a nice cottage garden or a little secret glade in a forest where I could see a trickling stream & forget everything

Richmond, N Yorkshire
Aberaeron, Ceredigion
Devizes, Wiltshire
Samurai, Loire, France
Saint Valery sur Somme, Picardy, France

French pharmacies are strange places though. To me they appear as if no one has ever actually gone in there since the day they opened the doors. Quite literally the most sterile places on earth. And I always feel really awkward going inside, because everything & everyone is so pristine.

The woods/forest
the sea
fields
my garden

Basically anywhere where there’s not many people

Yes to charity shops! I think it's more an obsession than just finding it happy though.

My bed.
In the car, very early in the morning (4am) driving to work, listening to Absolute 70s, with the window down and cool air blowing in.
Every single time I walk my dogs.
In my tent in a field with a view.
My landing. Everytime I step onto it and see the view.

I know what you mean, but I still love them.
I found a fantastic one in Orleon. It was full of women shopping and the shop assistants were so helpful. Not at all snooty (I'm not judging, some are snooty).
They have the full range of the makes that we get a tiny bit of in the uk. Nuxe, LRP, Bioderma etc. love them.
I also love buying a years worth of Savon de Marseille from the markets. I may have had a bit of a meltdown when I ran out during lockdown.
Luckily I have found a uk supplier so all is well. 😄

Cornwall. Libraries. My bedroom.

My summer room
Anywhere in Northumberland (apart from Blyth)
St Cuthbert's chapel, Durham Cathedral

The little bit of beach next to The Fish Pot restaurant in NW Barbados
In my garden with a view of my magnolia tree
Anywhere up a mountain or a fell (in ski season)

Peter Jones 5th floor cafe. It's light and bright, there's a lovely panoramic view, and you are surrounded by moderately priced homewares. It's the Westminster Abbey of department stores.

If I am asked to go to my happy place or a pleasant place in meditation or whatever it's usually a warm riverbank with a shallow stream of clear water and mature deciduous trees. That started to be my go-to place when I did hypnobirthing 15 years ago, I was imagining giving birth alone by a stream, perhaps in the shelter of an ancient tree or fallen stump.

Now I think of a real place meeting a similar description where I walk my dog and swim in the same river a bit further down in summer. I'm definitely a river and freshwater person though I do love the seaside too. I swam in Lake Maggiore last summer and I could go there in my head quite easily. Or floating in warm shallow sea in Mallorca. Just pottering about my garden at this time of year relieves stress and frustration though.