[Goosegirl]

Whilst trying to get to sleep last night I suddenly wondered can you hear silence?

[mrs bouquet]

I think it is very difficult to achieve total silence, but I expect you probably become aware of hearing nothing.
I once had a lovely picture of a sea-scape, the words underneath said 'listen for words cannot describe the sound of silence'.   Profound, but unlikely to be silent, birds, lapping sea etc.   I shall also ponder on where that picture went    Mrs Bouquet

[Goosegirl]

As you said, I did become aware of hearing  nothing; mind you I'd love to be able to hear sounds that are normally out of the human range. Now that would be interesting!

[mrs bouquet]

Goosey, I would like to be able to hear sounds that are within the Human Range ( perhaps not all of them!)

But you have got a good point, maybe I could do a trade with the audio dept.    Now I shall ponder on what sounds are out there, that we cannot normally hear, very interesting I bet.  Mrs B

[RubyRed]

When we first bought our 300yr house it was very much in a raw state. Quarry floor, thick walls very old squishy sofa left behind. Old threadbare rugs it was so atmospheric. As you moved through it the silence used to wrap round you. I used to sit on the sofa and just look and listen. The dust rose up and the sunlight would catch it and I could only think of all the people who had been born, lived ad died in the house. I used to say the silence was deafening. It hasn't been altered much. We love the rough and ready look and I have found the old place such a real comfort when we have encountered upsetting times. I'm actually getting a bit teary now ! My grandma would say, " Eh year daft *".

[Goosegirl]

Your home sounds just like ours. I also wanted to know when it was first built, who used to live here, and what they did so I started to research its history then, because I went off at a tangent, it turned into a history of Thurnham village which the Domesday Book calls Tiernum and was inhabited by Viking descendants at the time of the survey. As far as I know our cottage was re-built in the mid-1700's using old timbers from local shipwrecks so its original foot-print must have been here well before that. The field next to us used to be absolutely covered in Spring with purple crocuses which makes me think they were used to produce saffron, but to cover the entire field they must have been planted yonks ago. Cockersand Abbey is only about a mile away so it's possible the Canons grew them for trading until its dissolution in 1559. Our little isolated cottage is in the middle of moss-land which was first drained by the Abbey workers but why it was built so far from the Abbey I don't know. Back to topic, it's great to have some peace and quiet whether it's in your home or outside. Nothing like it!