Arriving at the Cottage

Puffy white clouds drift through a blue sky overhead as the sun sits high in the sky. You rest under an apple tree in full blossom, watching the bees going about their business and the white petals drifting down around you.

You arrived at the cottage just that morning and have spent the day wandering the country roads and woodland trails that surround the house and garden. Your host had left for the market before your arrival, but she'd left a note to make yourself at home and she'd find you when she returned. Uncertain which room was to be yours during your stay, you'd placed your worn carpet bag in the sitting room and left your own note, so that when she got back she'd know you'd gone to explore.

A distant humming catches your ears and you pick yourself up from the grass and begin to stroll in that direction. You find a path that strolls along a small pond, choked with lily pads and lined with cattails and draping pussy willows. A family of ducks paddles upon the water, the yellow ducklings in a neat line behind their mother. You reach into your pocket where you have a scone, wrapped in a handkerchief, you were saving for later. You crumble this up and toss the crumbs on the water. The ducklings swarm your offering, quacking merrily.

The humming is louder now, and you leave the shelter of the orchard to find yourself at the bottom of a small hill covered in swaying green grass, fresh and sweet. At the top, a great old tree sits, like a crown. A clothes line stretches from the tree to a pole set in the ground, with various white linens fluttering from it like flags in the breeze. You climb the hill, following the humming, and find your host, a wooden clothespin held in her mouth, as she removes the now crisp and dry laundry from the line and places it in a large wicker basket.

She smiles at your approach. "Ah, there you are. Just in time. I have your bedding for tonight finally ready."

She motions to the basket. A stack of quilts sits already folded, some are brightly colored with elaborate patterns: cathedral window, pinwheels, and flying geese. Others more crazy quilt style, scraps of cloth sewn together, seemingly at random but still gorgeous and complex.

You offer to carry the basket for her, and when she thanks you and agrees, you pick it up. The fragrance of fresh, sun-kissed cloth rises to greet you and you immediately feel drowsy.

You follow your host down the hill and take a path through the garden back to the cottage. You enter through the kitchen and place the basket on the long, farm style table. Your host separates out a selection of bedding and tells you to make yourself at home while she prepares a few things. You offer to make a pot of tea for you both, which she eagerly accepts, pointing to the kettle and the tins of tea sitting beside the stove.

By the time the tea pot whistles, she has returned. While you wait for your tea to cool, you go down the hall to check on your room. Gingham curtains flutter beside and open window. A cozy bed, covered in quilts and pillows waits you.

The room is simply furnished with cross-stitch samplers framed on the walls, a built-in bookshelf full of old, leather and cloth bound books—mostly classics from the titles you can read on the spines—next to an overstuffed armchair and a little side table with a candle on top. You sit on the chair and watch the candle flicker. You know you could spend many happy days in this room and never tire of it. You almost pray the next day will be rainy so you have an excuse to stay in and sit in that chair, reading those books—though you also long to continue your exploration of the garden and countryside.

You finally rise to return to your tea and thank your host for seeing to your room. You are going to enjoy this holiday.

Clothespin & Quilts is part of Mythologie Candles' expanded Cottagecore Collection, arriving March of 2023. If you want exclusive Cottagecore content as well as early access to the collection, sign up to our earlybird list!