How do you design your life? New Rural: Where to Find It and How to Create It is an interiors book for a new way of living that combines the space and freedom of rural existence with the connections and opportunities of the modern world.
Today, we’re featuring an extract from New Rural that’s all about how to find your dream country location. Read on …
FINDING YOUR PLACE
‘When you are on the right path, invisible hands will come to your aid.’ – Joseph Campbell
Seemingly there are so many options, so many ways to live your life. If you want to change and move, how do you know where to go? The fantasy of a pastoral idyll is one thing, finding a deep connection to a place another.
It can happen in a simple way – like visiting friends. Seeing how they live, imagining yourself in their place. Or even just pulling out a map and heading out into the wild blue yonder.
Experiences from when you were very young can shape your attitude towards a place – something you are trying to recreate, or even leave behind. Often this emerges as a deep intuition, a feeling propelling you towards a place, even something drawing you there. That is how it was for me.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
ARCHITECTURE IS KEY
The gold rush left architectural treasures scattered around rural Australia: towns with wide main streets, generous parks, elegant sandstone shopfronts and corner pubs with deep verandahs trimmed with iron lace. The trick is to find a town that didn’t have its heritage buildings bulldozed by an overzealous council in the sixties, flattening the soul out of the streetscape.
A GOOD CUP OF COFFEE
Regional Australia still has the same rustic buildings and wide-open expanses, but now you can get a good cup of coffee. A small pleasure in life but symbolic of the new rural. A vibrant country cafe is the setting for pleasant random encounters, a place to pick up on the thread of a community in a relaxed and unforced way.
SOMEWHERE TO SWIM
In coastal rural areas, there are often natural rock ocean pools, washed with clean, clear sea water. Refreshing and magical. Swimming in rivers and waterholes feels softer, gentler than the ocean. But it’s beautiful all the same. Relaxing in a different way. In the strong heat of summer, it can lead to dreamy afternoon siestas.
COMMUNITY
When you imagine the appeal of a cottage in the countryside, it seems to shimmer in its own little bubble. But it’s not really like that. It is usually part of a whole community. After the anonymity of the city, it can be confronting to have everyone knowing your business. You are part of an ecosystem. But it also means you can call upon neighbours in the middle of the night if there is an emergency and rely on that generous country helping hand. There’s a stronger bond.
SOME THINGS THAT JUST WORK IN THE COUNTRY
Armchairs that envelop and welcome
Woven baskets
Linen, hemp, cotton: natural fabrics that are both ancient and modern
Whitewashed bricks
Faded floral fabrics
Large rugs
Timber in all its forms: furniture, wall cladding, baskets of kindling by the fire; if you like a room, there’s usually some timber in it
Four-poster beds
Objects with texture and patina
Rustic stools
The colour green
Seagrass matting
Rattan, wicker and cane
Cosy nooks with a pile of book and magazines
Fire: outdoor firepits, wood-burning stoves, open fireplaces
—This is an edited extract from New Rural by Ingrid Weir, published by Hardie Grant Books.
New Rural
Limited Signed Copies Available!
This stunning photo-filled hardback is a guide for those dreaming of moving to the country; inspiration for anyone who craves touches of rural magic and cottagecore in their home – wherever that may be; and a window to the distinctive allure of Australia’s vibrant regional towns.
Authored and photographed by interior designer Ingrid Weir, this creative book is much more than a manual...
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