"I’m the last person anyone would have expected to move to a cottage in the wilderness and start living from the land" confesses Bryony Kimmings, 44, who lives in rural East Sussex with her partner Will, son and stepdaughter.
"My friends joke that I’ve gone 'full Bog Witch', so I’ve decided to use that as the title for my new comedy show, which I’m launching at the Soho Theatre this October. It shares the bonkers experience of the last three years and what can happen when you allow yourself to be open to other options in life.
"I’d been a single mum for six years, living with my son in Brighton, when I met my partner Will in 2021. I thought I was happy with my life full of coffee shops, bars, and the quick dopamine hits you get from constantly buying stuff.
"But Will saw life a little differently. He had always been passionate about the environment and sustainability. As he started gently questioning some of my choices, I started to as well."
My soul hole
Bryony and her partner Will
"My son has additional needs; he hates noise and loves the outdoors. Yet here we were, living in the centre of a big town, attending a huge school and living in a small house with a tiny courtyard for outside space.
"I started to realise that underneath all the cupboards full of fancy candles and impulse-bought junk, the endless distractions and façade of happiness, my soul had a big hole in it. I was disconnected from nature, running on empty and frazzled."
"I felt guilty about all the stuff I was buying, but didn’t know how to change"
"After a couple of years of dating, Will suggested we think about moving to the countryside, and I found myself saying yes. Our budget only stretched to somewhere small in the middle of nowhere, yet the more rural the locations we looked at, the happier everyone else seemed.
"Before I knew it, we’d bought a tiny hobbit-like cottage down a little lane on an acre of land."
What HAVE I done?
"Initially, I thought I’d made the biggest mistake of my life. None of my modern art and brightly coloured Brighton belongings fitted in this pokey, dark hovel. Everything was dirty and dated, the heating didn’t work and the 1970s kitchen was barely functional.
"Feeling trapped and lonely, I missed civilisation. All I wanted was for Deliveroo to bring some Ramen, to walk around shops and bump into people I knew. It was so quiet, and I felt completely out of place.
"While Will and the kids were over the moon, spending every waking hour outside planting veg, climbing things and playing spies, it took me four months to make any friends. Desperate for female company, I joined a weaving guild and was pleasantly surprised when they just sat around and drank wine under the pretence of weaving.
"I also took up the Sussex sport of stoolball (once played by milkmaids – a bit like rounders sat on stools), which turned out to be a great laugh."
Simple pleasures
"The first time I realised I was growing to like my new life was when I went to London for work about six months later. It just didn’t feel right. I was struck by how little green there was. I missed my walks and could feel my anxiety rising.
"Returning home, I made a conscious decision to stop being anti-countryside for the sake of it and to give this new life a go. I began to appreciate the joy in picking your own food and eating it, of watching the seasons change, of being part of nature.
"Will had been so patient with me, and I finally started engaging with the odd article or podcast he would recommend about being a permaculturalist, or the planetary cost of our conspicuous consumption, and became fascinated."
Celebrating nature
"I’m not a hippy, woo-woo person, but in reconnecting with the natural world, I began to feel its healing power. I loved the serotonin hit I got from having my hands in soil and the calming effect of being among huge trees in the forest.
"Stopping my compulsive online shopping habit, I started buying anything we couldn’t grow ourselves from local people, which meant I got to know all the local tradespeople and shop owners.
"I’ve become fascinated by the medicinal powers of herbs and am now a proud Green Witch (stewards for the planet with a focus on natural healing).
"As a family, we’ve chosen to replace expensive festivals like Christmas with celebrating pagan holidays using all the wonderful natural resources abundant at those times of the year to create events where we invite our local community to party together."
Everyone can make a change
"Friends and family are shocked by my transformation, but perhaps no one has been as surprised as me. I think I’d found the climate crisis overwhelming and was paralysed about what to do.
"I felt guilty about all the stuff I was buying, but didn’t know how to change. What I now see is that every person can make their own positive impact.
"I’m not a climate activist and never will be – that’s not my style. I’m also certainly not advocating that everybody needs to uproot themselves and move their entire lives to the countryside.
"There are ways to live in cities in an ecologically friendly way by not using cars so much, engaging with climate issues and making better choices. The more you engage, the less scared you become. Plugging back into nature has changed everything for me and filled the hole in my soul with so many good things.
"Everyone can make a change. Start small: plant some potatoes. You never know where it might take you."
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