Recently I chose to walk to our local garage to collect my car after emergency maintenance. The direct, main road route is 4 miles or so, but the alternative, just shy of 6, and much more attractive. Living here we are spoilt for choice with the abundance of footpaths, bridleways and green lanes accessible from Drovers Retreat in some of the most stunning landscapes in the UK.

This old stone barn that welcomes you today, encapsulates history. It stands just above an ancient Drovers track, which in former centuries saw the passage of cattle and sheep across Wales to markets far beyond, and once housed cattle beneath its roof. We have tried, modern planning rules and contemporary regulations permitting, to retain its sense of history. Flagstones that felt the press of hooves in former years, were lifted to accommodate a thick insulated floor and then replaced on top - a veritable heavy-weight jigsaw puzzle on kitchen and living room floor.

Here in this quiet corner of Wales we are still firmly locked down. Its over seven weeks since I visited a shop! Drovers Retreat, in all its spring glory, is temporarily moth-balled while we await that moment when we can share this special place with family, friends and guests once again. I I feel I am spinning in a whirlpool of contrary emotions and so I walk. With every step I walk my spaghetti head begins to straighten out. I start singing and often the poetry comes with a sigh of relief.

On one such walk the first line of this poem ‘Sourcing of Masks’ hijacked my thoughts and quickly became a mantra with successive steps, ‘Today we have sourcing of masks’.  Henry Reed’s famous ‘Naming of Parts’ had been buried in my grey matter since school days, for over 50 years, until quite suddenly I realised just how relevant the five stanzas are in these crazy, desperate times.

Dark skies seem to be weighing us down. With constant mention of the six letter 'B' word I find myself shouting at the radio then reaching for my boots to escape to the surrounding hills. You can do just that. We have our own beautiful dark sky, of a different kind, right here on the edge of the Radnor Forest. Or you can venture on a short drive to take advantage of all that the 45,000 acres of the Elan Valley have to offer.

We seem suddenly to have arrived at the closing weeks of peak holiday season and what a mixed bag of weather we have had. Drovers Retreat has been booked up throughout, with guests from all over the world - from USA to Poland, Korea to Belgium, Ireland and of course UK. So much to see and do both outdoors and in, that the seasonal eccentricities have not palled the enjoyment of our guests.

Some time ago when my grandson was small I told him how I had surprised a roe deer in the Radnor Forest, a stone’s throw from Drovers Retreat. Wide eyed he enquired ‘Did you ride it?’ And that was the magic, not only that he should picture me doing just that, but that he believed in my imagined lithe leap on to its back as it pranced through the undergrowth.

The arrival of spring keeps teasing! At once throwing drifts of snow over us then sneaking up with a warm sunny day that sets the birds all a twitter! Then suddenly a biting wind forces me inside to catch up on paperwork while lambs shiver under hedges.

But today the sun is shining again and I must leave my desk. I set my sights to the Radnor Forest, boot-shod and mud-slide my way towards the hill. And what rewards I find at the peaceful dew pond .......

Although we have said goodbye to the last of a steady stream of guests over the festive period we already have people booking for the coming weeks and beyond.

It is a great place for doing just what you enjoy. So many fabulous views to take in: I snapped this one in December, looking towards Black Mixen. I only had 5 minutes to spare and that’s all it took to walk from the front door and capture the snowy afternoon light.

I walked out this morning to ‘beat the bounds’ of our smallholding. My BBC weather app gave little encouragement for a December walk in Wales - somewhere damp between low cloud and chilling wind. But it’s pointless letting weather forecasts dictate the day here, there are, more often than not, pleasant surprises along the way.
My steps soon brought me to the steep dingle and our stream that runs through. You can walk here when you stay at Drovers Retreat. Victorian labour first tamed the brook into a concrete channel during the building of the Elan Valley pipe-line to Birmingham, at the turn of the last century........

What on Earth is going on with the world? Crazy things are all around, and not in the Dr.Seuss fun sense either.

If you are feeling it’s impossible to right the wrongs of the world then maybe it’s time you booked a break.

No, don’t go on an aeroplane! Come here for a bit of quiet reflection. The autumn colours are deepening, the air is clear and the spring water refreshing.