I am completely in love with Orange.

I never expected this.

I am from country NSW and I never thought I would want to go back.

But Orange has bewitched me. I am in love with its gold, ruby and claret autumn leaves, it’s graceful heritage cottages and its dynamic food and wine scene. Everyone at the supermarket wears polar fleece vests, RM Williams boots and smiles at you as you trolley past.

I went to Anula Day Spa on a recent visit and there were chickens roaming around in the carpark. Chickens!

The First Husband and I drove over there last weekend for the christening of my most beloved Godson, Talby. The lobbying began just outside of Hartley.

Me: “Let’s move to Orange.”

The First Husband: “No.”

Me: “Let’s move to Orange.”

The First Husband: “No.”

And so forth …

The pros:

• It’s cheaper than Sydney (but not much)
• My sister and her family live there
• There are lots of wineries and local food producers
• It’s clean, beautiful and you can grow some really interesting flowers, shrubs and trees there
• I LOVE IT

The cons:

• It’s fricken’ freezing in winter
• There isn’t a major calling for PR people and graphic designers in Orange
• We don’t have any money so we can’t buy a house anywhere, even if we wanted to
• The First Husband says it reminds him of Tamworth and he doesn’t want to live there

Nonetheless, I can dream. I imagine a rambling country cottage surrounded by a huge, overgrown garden, a gnarly old orchard and a slimy dam (or willowy creek). There will be decorative ducks. There will be chickens. There will be a vigourous veggie patch. And there will be an outdoor woodfired pizza oven (as per The First Husband’s explicit request).

Above all, there will be happiness, love, friends, hand embroidered vintage linen, long lunches with children and dogs running around; peace and freedom to create and spread out and be messy.

This is what I want because we are all at our best in places like this.