Hello
Greetings from the crib...
You probably know us from Instagram. We started The Country Crib when moving to our cottage in rural Somerset in February 2019, primarily as a photo journal, to document the changing of seasons as we discovered new things in the garden.
Instagram is a funny old place, particularly since the machine changed to prioritise reels over still photography. We value the friendships; however, the platform seems to have lost its sense of community. The pressure to post daily and to keep up with the algorithms is not healthy. It can draw you in too deep, like a dopamine fix if you allow it. The competitive nature can be immense. As creative introverts we have probably become accidental, or rather reluctant influencers. A question we have asked ourselves - compared to other garden accounts with over 50k followers, are we one of the few on Instagram not wanting a career on TV? As you can tell, we prefer to be behind the camera.
So, anyway, this isn’t about Instagram. Ultimately, we would like to create a space and a community to share thoughts, to reflect on all things around nature and gardening. It’s not all about pretty flowers, we would like to talk openly about biodiversity loss, and the climate emergency – the things that keep us up at night!
A bit of background from us. We are Stephen, a photographer, and Brett, a designer, both passionate gardeners, originally from the south coast of England, who moved from London to the Somerset countryside three years ago. Check out our work if you are interested.
Our 200-year-old thatched home and cottage garden sits above a village surrounded by farmland. Much of the garden was lawn, however we are slowly carving it up replacing grass with areas to attract a greater range of wildlife. A few garden projects have been underway this year - restoring existing native hedges; breaking up the garden with hundreds of new hedges with the aim of creating wildlife corridors; more nesting sites, and more food for wildlife.
Gardening is never finished. Always evolving and changing. Our aim is to share our garden with as much nature as possible.
If you like what you hear so far, please join us. We look forward to sharing our words and pictures with you.
Stephen & Brett x