Enjoy the little things in life!

“Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realise they were the big things”

This quote, attributed to the American writer Kurt Vonnegut, is perhaps truer in the era of coronavirus than ever before.

For many people lockdown is proving a hugely challenging time, though many of us are also taking this opportunity to appreciate the smaller things in life, such as the natural world right on our doorstep. And for those of us lucky enough to live in or near the North Yorkshire countryside, this ‘doorstep’ is a place of immense and varied beauty.

Over the past few weeks of lockdown I’ve noticed the landscape transforming as we’ve moved from early to late spring: the emerging blackthorn blossom, bluebells and wood anemones shimmering in the wind, hares loping across the open fields. My own daily lockdown walk takes me around Swinsty Reservoir, which I can circumnavigate in the allotted hour, and where I witness this great transformation taking place.

Our horizons may be limited these days, but we are looking more closely at the world around us. And, when this is over, perhaps we’ll have learned to ‘enjoy the little things in life’ even more. I know I will.

Wood anemones on the banks of Swinty Reservoir.