I've been trekking the hills and lanes of the British countryside for nearly four decades now and I've come to associate my passion with overexcited poets rather than pampered painters.
We have a house in Umbria that we bought just before we went to America. That meant we couldn't go there as often as we thought, but now we're back, we're going to start using it more. I love the light, the countryside, the language and the fact that children are accepted everywhere. The Italians get passionate about everything, too.
I grew up in the countryside riding horses, and I also ride every holiday in Spain, which is where I was born. It's a big part of my life.
I have a garden. We have fresh tomatoes and strawberries. People are different here... People out in California, they grow up quicker. They have a lot of excess, and they have a lot more things than we do here in Hungary. There, they start doing makeup when they're 13, when we would still be out in the countryside making sausage.
I grew up in the countryside, and I was obsessed with horses and wildlife.
In the countryside, you're always hearing sheep, birds, tractors and farm equipment.
I prefer the simple things and I love walking in the countryside, or going camping... but simplicity is hard. It's easier to over-complicate things.
The first trip I remember taking was on the train from Virginia up to New York City, watching the summertime countryside rolling past the window. They used white linen tablecloths in the dining car in those days, and real silver. I love trains to this day. Maybe that was the beginning of my fixation with leisurely modes of travel.
One of the great things about being a writer/journalist is that my boss loves me to go out and do features on being someone else. I did a feature on Kate Middleton, where I went to an incredible fancy state home in the countryside, put on a wedding dress and posed for engagement pictures with a fake Prince William.
I miss Brighton enormously, enormously. There is so much I miss, including rain. I miss the verdant countryside.
