Good news on the horizon

There's a rat-a-tat-tat coming from the trees across the valley, the sound of a woodpecker doing whatever it is that woodpeckers do. The fluffy clouds are tinged with pink and the outlines of two of Dorset's highest points, Pilsdon and Lewesdon - known by sailors and locals as The Cow and The Calf - are sharp and clear against the morning sky.

It is cold and bright and we might have snow.

But, spring is tucking its dress in its knickers and is ready to emerge from around the corner. It is beaming like a favourite child splashing through a few puddles before reaching our outstretched arms.

The Enchanted Village is turning its own corner towards a brighter future.

Next month, we will have new publicans in our village pub, several months after it imploded. Its closure left a hole in the magic pentacle that is our five-road village square, which had already suffered the loss of our shop.

We desperately want someone to come and buy the shop. We want the heart of our village back. We also want our former shopkeeper to be able to live his life, happily, away from sad memories. We can't afford what he wants for it, and we really hope someone will come along and take it over. We will support them: this village is nothing if not supportive and willing.

But in the meantime, the answer, it seems, lies in a portable shop building in the grounds of the village hall. It's worked elsewhere, so why not here?

But our ultimate aim must be to crank up those ley lines, the intersections of which are said by the pseudoscientists to be a mystical energy source. In moments of whimsy, I like to think this community draws its great strength from the ley lines that cross the village square.

We need our beating heart back.

That's about it.

Love Maddie x