One year ago, I moved to the Ards peninsula, a thin strip of land that dangles from the belly of Belfast Lough. It is largely farming country; a series of emerald drumlins on which sheep and cows grow fat.
The west shore is the boundary for Strangford Lough, an area of outstanding natural beauty, with a unique and protected eco-system.
Today, I turn right out of my drive and join Mount Stewart Road, named after the estate it edges. The road follows the stone wall and passes houses and fields once tied to the manor, which has had its share of notorious owners: Viscount Castlereagh, the bloodthirsty 2nd Marquess of Londonderry; the famine-ignoring 3rd Marquess; and the Nazi-appeasing 7th Marquess.
Still, it is a beautiful estate. Couples now get married in the Temple of the Winds folly that overlooks Strangford and, with help from the National Trust, the house has been newly restored, offering a good day out.
Mount Stewart Road leads directly to the lough shore and on a day such as this thoughts of sinister aristocratic deeds are distant. Strangford experiences thrilling tidal displacement and today it’s between extremes. There’s just the merest breath of wind, the water is rippled glass, and a heat haze makes the opposite shore and a motoring yacht appear as if viewed through gauze. The nipple that is Pig Island lies directly ahead and of the thousands that will soon be departing after wintering on the Lough, four Brent Geese search for eel grass on the mud flats. I pull into the grassy layby where families and lovers are picnicking.
In a flash, and for the first time since I moved here, I’m able to call Ards home. The realisation is welcome to the point of tears. I’ve waited 30 years to feel that I once again belong to the land I live on. I can’t explain why, presented with only this simple scene, but I will be happy here. The beauty helps, but I’ve seen more beautiful. Perhaps it’s the influence of Easter. It is a celebratory and inexplicable resurrection of the body and spirit. And it’s something that needn’t be explained.
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