ANIMALS ON THE ALM

After a long winter indoors due to the snow and cold temperatures, the spring and summer must seem like a welcome relief to the animals, as they are free to go back out into the fields and eat fresh grass and soak up the sunshine.  Usually at the end of June, or early July, the animals are taken to the higher part of the mountain know as the Alm.  Here the grass is fresh and lush and there are usually less flies and more shelter under the trees and shaded areas.  The animals, cattle, sheep, goats and horses are generally free to roam the Alm without the restrictions of fences and gates.


Often there is a herdsman who lives up on the Alm, he will look after them and milk them, then produce beautiful mountain cheeses and butter.  You can walk up to these huts in the mountains and eat their delicious produce too.  Usually they are only accessible by foot and in very remote but beautiful places in the Alps.

Most of the animals have bells around their necks, and in the case of cattle usually large bells that jingle every time they move.  The sound is wonderful to hear when you are walking, if you close your eyes you can think you are in the film, The Sound of Music.  Wonderful for us but if you are a cow this constant jingling every time you move must surely drive you crazy!

I am also shocked at how agile cattle are, I have seen cattle perched on very steep mountain slopes with their calves at their sides.

The mountain ponies here are called Haflingers and are a very pretty, yet stocky, palomino coloured pony with fabulously thick blond manes, that are very hardy, agile and suitable for mountain life.

My beloved horse Dan has also gone up to the Alm this week, although his is a controlled Alm, as thankfully it has a fence around it, so that hopefully they can not come to any harm. Dan is a Dutch retired showjumper who has lived in Lincolnshire, two very flat places, so like me,  mountain life has taken a little adjusting too.  From now until the beginning of September,  Dan and his stable mates get two months holidays, living free in the beautiful mountains and sleeping outdoors, under the stars, in all weathers.  This is something he is not really used to, as he normally comes into his stable at night, where his food and water is waiting for him.  He has had his shoes removed and now living a wild life, eating fresh grass and drinking from the stream.  The rest does them good and they all seem to bond well together in the wild.

Although I think this change in life comes as a bit of a shock to him, when I visited him today he seemed remarkably chilled and laid-back already.... although very dirty!

THE MOON AND THE MOUNTAINS

One thing I found rather unusual when I first moved to the mountains, was the fascination with the moon and the locals.

I have always loved to see the moon in a starry sky and was aware of course that the moon changes the tides but was not at all superstitious about the moon, until now!  Well except as a child my brothers used to try and scare me by saying it is a full moon and the werewolf will come out tonight and get me!

Certainly the older locals believe in the powers of the moon and it rules their every day lives.  They have moon calendars which helps them to plan, for example...  on which day it is best to cut your hair, colour your hair, plant your vegetables, harvest your vegetables, there are certain days when they believe that you should not have an injection as the moon is not right and therefore you will have more pain or not get the full effect.  I guess this is to do with the waxing moon (getting bigger) and the waning moon (getting smaller).


Plenty of us follow the zodiac signs which is all influenced by the state of the moon at a certain time and place.

I regularly hear people complain of having had a bad nights sleep then follow it up with "it must be the full moon!"  I have sat in the hairdressers and there is not another person in there and of course it's because the moon is not right, same as I have tried to make a hair appointment when obviously the moon is right and they are completely full.


My neighbours have their wood delivered in the form of massive tree trunks, which they leave in their drive until the moon is right and they then all  come out en-mass and help to chop and stack the wood together, often working late into the night to make full use of the moon before it changes.

When we rebuilt our house we had to wait until the moon was right before the locals would fit the water pipes to the mountain water  source, saying we have to wait for the moon!  I remember thinking have they gone completely mad!  How can they afford the time to wait nearly a month until the moon is right to do this.  But local folk won't work against the moon, they believe that it will bring bad luck.  Same as cutting your hair, if you cut it at the wrong time it will not grow fast, yet cut it at the right time and your hair will grow quicker and be healthy.  Plant your seeds on a waxing moon and they will grow a treat, plant on a waning moon and be prepared to wait.

So how do we know if the moon is waxing or waning... well again something I have learned since being a "Mountain Frau".  If the moon is visible in the evening sky then it is waxing (getting bigger). If the moon is visible in the early morning sky then it is waning (getting smaller).

My daughter recently sprinkled her spinach and salad seeds and they grew a treat, we now laugh and joke that it must be the moon!  In fact it has become a bit of a household saying for us when something goes either to plan or not...  "it must be the moon"

So next time you plant your vegetables or flowers in the window boxes, make a hair appointment, beauty appointment, go to the doctors or travel anywhere,  take a moment to consider the state of the moon, I am sure there is plenty of truth in this, they can't all be wrong, can they?

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME...

blond in the Alps

St. Anton am Arlberg, Tirol, Austria

TALES FROM THE ALPS...Four years ago my husband and I decided to rebuild an old ski lodge in the Alps, with the intention of turning it into a family holiday home. It was never our plan to actually live here, but as our appreciation for the area grew, we decided to take the leap and actually move out here full time.  Four years on and we are still happily living here and our two children are now settled in the local Austrian schools and mountain life.

 Never did I imagine I would be happy living at 1380 meters above sea level on the side of a mountain, as I am a beach girl at heart.  My friends now joke and call me the "landlocked-mermaid".

For me it was a huge life-decision to up-sticks and make home in another country, where I did not speak a word of German, plus I have always thought myself to be very British... So I decided to move my favorite bits and bobs of British stuff with me... including our rescue dog Max, my horse Dan, my collection of miss matched china tea cups, Yorkshire Tea bags, union jack cushions, wooden hearts and amongst many other things a beautiful blue Aga!  I have made a new home for us in the Mountains, filled with shabby chic and vintage finds.

I have been to the school of life and loved every minute of it.

I grew up in Yorkshire on a farm, with my wonderful large family around me, being very free and happy and of course I had my first grey pony, my best friend then, as is my current beloved grey horse Dan is now.  I have since lived in Yorkshire, Windsor, London and then Lincolnshire for 11 years, before moving to the Austrian Alps.
I am lucky enough to have lived in the beautiful British countryside, and by the coast in England too, plus lived and worked in our fabulous capital city of London for nearly 10 years, so I guess the mountains were really the next on the list!

I am married to Peter and we have two wonderful children, James 13  and Jemima 9.  I never expected to take to motherhood so well and love my children so so so much.  I feel very blessed.

As I am a Gemini I am pretty versatile and generally easy going, yet fun loving too. I am a jack of all trades and master of just a few, but to me the fun is in learning and trying something new.   I love starting lots of projects at once, and finishing them eventually, so constantly doing something, as I believe that...... "only boring people get bored".

So when the challenge of moving countries finally arrived, I was VERY reluctant at first but then I decided to give it my all and make us a family home exactly as I would in the UK,  just in the Alps.... so with a few antlers, sheepskins and old ski's and then tadaaaaar!

 My "tongue in cheek" style blog is the story of our adjustment to life in another country, a very snowy one for at least 5 months of the year! Our adventures,  the ups and the downs.

 I hope you enjoy the journey we are still on.... Fairy tales from the Alps.

 Liz x

WHAT A WONDERFUL MORNING IT WAS.....

The weather in Tirol at the moment is marvelous, temperatures reaching 30 degrees, long, warm evenings, ideal for white wine and chatting with friends.  It is not before time though as May was the wettest month I can remember, we had flooding and even snow in the middle of the month too.  So this weather is a welcomed treat for us, but for how long it will last, who knows?

After dropping my daughter to school at 7.45 am, yes such an early start for kids over here, but their day is over at lunch time and their afternoons generally free. I drove my usual half hour drive to the stables to see Dan.

 For anyone who does not yet know who Dan is, he is one of the loves of my life!  A large, grey/white, often bad-tempered, scaredy-cat of a horse, whom I rescued 5 years ago and then moved with me to the mountains, he is now my best-friend and rock!  He has challenged me more than any other horse in my life to date, and yet over the years and especially since our move here, we have grown very much together and our trust in each other is now incredible.  I think anyone who had known the Dan I first bought all those years ago, would not believe the Dan he is now.

I rode out today with another girl from the stables, actually they are her stables and she has two beautiful horses.  As it was hot we rode in the shade through the wood, near the river and had a wonderful gallop along the wooded track.  The sound of two large horses thundering hooves on the stones below, wind in our hair, strong, powerful creatures racing into the beauty of the nature, filled me with an unreal sense of freedom and happiness.

On our way back she suggested we take our hot and sweaty horses in the river for a cool down.  Well as my horse generally has a phobia to water, he is known to leap over puddles rather than getting his hooves wet, I was willing but not actually sure that he would go anywhere near it.  How wrong I was!  He followed his friend straight in the river and started to paw the water so that his belly got wet too, then kept plunging his nose under the water, loving every minute of it.  I was completely amazed and thrilled too.  It was another time that Dan had proved me wrong and shown me yet another side to his ever growing personality.

It was particularly wonderful for me as being the land-locked mermaid, I miss the sea and water dreadfully and I am often know to drive an hour plus to the beautiful lake Constance/the Bodensee to get my fill of being near the water again.  Being on my horse in the water was a completely new experience for me too and something I can't wait to try again soon.

Oh I do hope it is hot and sunny again tomorrow morning!

JUST A FEW THINGS I LOVE....

White horses with grey noses,
 love hearts,
 cute cafes with miss-matched china,
 shabby chic and vintage finds,
 flea market searching, 
vintage china and glasses,
a frothy cafe laté mid morning, cup of Yorkshire tea in the afternoon,
 yoga,
 UGG BOOTS... in the mountains, beach, inside, outside, on my horse, wherever!
cool wicker baskets,
grey t-shirts and jumpers,
Union Jack flags 
 photographs,
 new magazines and the Sunday papers,
fashion old and new
 chocolate buttons,
painting, 
Snipping, glueing and collaging, 
shopping and chatting with friends,
Sunday roast at my parents house,
 nature and the seasons,
wild flowers in vintage jugs or jam jars,
my rescued animals,
galloping free through the woods on my gorgeous horse, Dan.
the smell of freshly laundered washing blowing on the line,
 the beach, sea shells, and searching for drift wood,
 mermaids, fairies and angels,
being always so proud of my kids,
movie night with the kids, dog, popcorn, all crammed on the sofa together,
Orangina or a chilled glass of champagne
air stream trailers and wooden beach huts,
The weekend,

 and best of all...... my family.


                                                       WHAT DO YOU LOVE????? 

HOW DID WE END UP HERE.....

If you had told me 20 years ago, that in my 40's I would be happily living half way up a mountain at 1380 meters, above one of Europe's leading ski resorts..... I would have thought you were insane!

It probably would have been one of my last CHOICE destinations in the world to live. Given my dislike for skiing, sensitivity to the cold and my two left feet which slip over on the flat, never mind the steep, icy slopes.  I am a country girl at heart with a passion for the beach.  I love nothing more than my wellies and coat, searching for shells and driftwood on the British beaches...

So it was never part of my life-plan to live in the Alps, a land-locked country with no sea. 

I still to this day don't know how we ended up actually living here!  As four years ago we bought an old, rundown mountain lodge/guest house with the intention of renovating it and turning it into a family HOLIDAY home, not our permanent home.  As the rebuild progressed and our affection for the area grew, it seemed like a good idea to give it a try so we enrolled our children into the local Austrian  school and Kindergarten, of course being British they did not speak a word of German.... but this did not put us off.

 I have always considered myself to be very British, so for me it was a huge life decision to leave my family, friends and job behind and up-sticks and make a home in another country with my husband and children.  I also gave up my fabulous job in London in Fashion to become a full time mountain Hausfrau und Mutter.

I swapped my  Jimmy Choos for Ugg boots, sent boxes of Yorkshire tea-bags and cheddar cheese out, dragged a beautiful pale blue Aga from the UK to here. I filled my husband's stinky fish van full of every item that reminded me of home, union-jacks, my miss matched vintage china collection, my daughters Barbies and lots of family photos and drove it overseas.  Got our family dog Max a passport and shipped my beloved grey horse Dan out here too.

I have joined countless German evening classes and still struggle to speak the language properly, put my kids into the local German speaking schools, where they did not even know a word of the language but now are fluent.  Suffered through countless parents evenings, where I had not understood a word they were saying (sometimes a good thing).  I have also learnt to walk, ski, ride and drive in the snowy and icy conditions.

I have made some wonderful new friends, joined the local yoga group, the Ski Club Arlberg, target-shooting club and riding stables. I have volunteered for anything and everything, sometimes regretting things I've got roped into. I have learned a lot about mountain life, its beauty in the very different seasons, its traditions, its religion and its wonderful sense of camaraderie.

There have been times when I have laughed and cried, but have learnt to embrace the change and most of all have loved the challenge of trying something new and becoming a mountain girl!

My "tongue in cheek" style blog is the story of our journey and adjustment to our new life in the Alps becoming "a landlocked mermaid"....... I am sure many of you can relate to it and I hope you enjoy reading about the continuing journey.

LIZ  X

10 THINGS THAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME,

10 Things you may not know about me... 11 actually!

I HATE tomato Ketchup!  It's like a phobia, I cant bare the taste, smell, colour or bottle even! I have no idea where or why this is the case, must be something from my childhood I guess. (so much so that I can not even post a photo of Ketchup below).

I LOVE grey horses with grey noses.  I have had 4 horses in my life and all have been grey.  My heart lurches when I see a grey horse in a field even.  Maybe Knights in shining armour, riding on white steeds, you know childhood dream stuff.

I never would have dreamed that I would love my children so much.  I was not a maternal person until I had kids of my own and now my life is complete.  It used to worry me that I may not be a good Mum, so it's unreal how the natural bond of your own child/children takes over.  Maternal instinct always astounds me.

I was was working on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise liner for 4 days from Southampton to New York, a week after it had hit a tidal wave and the sea was still incredibly rough, I spent virtually the whole trip in my cabin being violently sick, (as did most of the other passengers),  I thought the ship was going to sink and we would be too far out in the Atlantic to be rescued.  Never ever have I been so pleased to see land.  It was one of the "nightmares" of my life!

I believe in Angels, Fairies and mermaids.... as does my daughter, who is truly my angel.

I was "Head Girl" of my Junior school!!!

I have a passion for cute cafes, with pretty mis-matched china, gorgeous cakes and milky lattes.  They just lure me in and I get lost in my cafe world.  My dream one day is to have my own.

My desert island must-have would be my UGG boots.  I am addicted to Ugg boots.  I have them in all colours, lengths, indoor ones, outdoor ones, old ones and new ones.  I put them on my feet as slippers when I get up, as I hate having bare feet and wear them the whole day through.  It's a nightmare now when I put on a pair of heels for a party as I wobble around and my poor feet are crying out for their comfy Uggs.

I am a Cordon Bleu trained cook.  But only worked in the business for a couple of years before I realized that this was not the job for me, as the hours were so unsociable, the money was rubbish and you constantly smelled of food!  Oh, and I got fat.

I come across as a confident person but actually I am very shy inside.  I have battled with this for most of my life especially as a child...  My worst nightmare is walking into a crowded room alone.  I start to sweat even thinking about it.  I think that I hide it well though.


I got married in CHANEL.