Upstate New York is a completely different animal from its dense and gridded downstate namesake. While travelling north greys gave way to expansive fields where sunlight would bounce through the warm fall gradients - glowing as if plugged into a power source - to arrive at the farm for a week with Vicki, Glen, Tarah, Scott, Kora, 4 dogs, 6 horses and a cattery of felines I didn’t even try counting. Any house and host surrounded by fields, supportive of constant cups of tea and populated by more four-legged occupants than two-legged occupants tends to have me feeling at home in no time.