About Our Little House in the Country

Hi, I’m Ciara. Welcome to Our Little House in the Country.

This little corner of the internet began in 2013, during a very different season of my life.

My children were small, I had stepped away from my busy career in primary education for a time, and our days were filled with all the ordinary chaos and loveliness of life with two young children.

We made things. We explored. We spent time outdoors. We baked, painted, read stories, went on little adventures and gradually found our own rhythm at home.

I began writing about those days simply because I wanted a creative project of my own.

With my background in education, the blog naturally became filled with children’s activities, arts and crafts, family adventures, practical ideas for parents and glimpses of our life here in the Irish countryside.

And then, as tends to happen, life moved on.

I returned to my career. The children grew up. Our lives became busier and, for a while, Our Little House became quieter too.

Years later, I found myself drawn back here.

But I was different. My family was different. And the things I wanted to write about had changed.

Our Little House today

Today, Our Little House in the Country is an independent Irish lifestyle publication about seasonal and intentional living, home, family, simple food, creativity and the beauty of ordinary days.

But underneath all of those things is a question I find myself returning to again and again:

How do we live the lives we already have a little more gently?

Not by escaping to an entirely different life.

Not by creating a perfect home or following an elaborate morning routine.

And certainly not by adding another enormous list of things we should be doing.

I’m much more interested in the life that’s already happening.

The cup of tea before everyone else wakes up. The lamp switched on during a dark autumn morning. Dinner on an ordinary Tuesday. A walk when you need to clear your head. A book beside the bed. Family life as children grow and change. Making our homes work for the people who actually live in them.

The seasons changing outside the window while everything else carries on.

Because I believe our ordinary lives are so much more valuable than we sometimes give them credit for.

What you’ll find here

At the heart of Our Little House are my long-form reflective essays — writing about life, change, home, family, the seasons and the things we sometimes only notice when we give ourselves enough space to see them.

Alongside those you’ll find practical seasonal ideas, simple recipes, realistic home rhythms, things to do, gentle routines and an ever-growing Free Printable Library designed to be genuinely useful in everyday life.

I also write Our Little Friday Letter, my fortnightly letter to readers around the world, and host Seasonal Notes, the Our Little House podcast.

Different formats, perhaps, but the same idea runs through all of them:

This isn’t about creating a perfect life. It’s about finding more within the life you’re already living.

A little about me

I’m Ciara Winters, the writer and creator behind Our Little House in the Country.

I live in the Irish countryside, a few kilometres from the east coast, with my husband, our two teenagers and the assorted animals that have become part of family life.

I spent more than 25 years working in primary education, including school leadership and special education, before stepping away from that very busy professional life. I later studied professional digital marketing, and somehow all those different threads — education, writing, creativity, communication and more than a decade of publishing online — have found their way into what I do here.

Most mornings are rather less impressive than that paragraph makes them sound.

I tend to get up before the rest of the house, switch on the lamps, make a good cup of tea and spend a little while writing, journaling or simply figuring out what I think before the day gets noisy.

Some of my favourite pieces have begun during that quiet hour.

About the older archives

If you’ve been visiting Our Little House for many years — or if Google or Pinterest has brought you to one of my older posts — you’ll find plenty here from when my children were small.

There are children’s crafts, activities, parenting ideas and family posts stretching right back to 2013.

I’ve deliberately kept much of that archive.

Thousands of families still discover and use those resources, and they’re also part of the story of Our Little House. This site has grown and changed because we have grown and changed.

I think there is something rather lovely about allowing that history to remain.

I’m glad you’re here

Whether you’ve been reading since those early days or arrived here for the first time this morning, welcome.

I hope Our Little House feels less like somewhere telling you how your life ought to look and more like somewhere that encourages you to notice what’s already good, make the things that aren’t working a little gentler, and find your own way of living well in the season you’re in.

Make yourself a cup of tea and have a wander.

I’m very glad you found your way here.

Warmly,
Ciara

For questions, reader messages or general enquiries, you can reach me at hello@ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com.

For professional collaborations and editorial partnerships, please visit our Work With Me page.

Our Little House in the Country is a registered business name of Ciara Winters, registered in Ireland. Business Registration No. 770115.