Someone very close to me is house-hunting. They have their own property and are living there quite happily – it is their first home and was perfect when they moved in. Generous hall, large bedroom, beautiful if small bathroom, ditto kitchen which has every modern appliance, and a good sized sitting room with a lovely large picture window. There’s a small but manageable garden, with a meadow at the back and they are in a small village, half a mile from the beach/sea/woods/countryside/nearby town. They’ve been happy there but now it’s time (for the usual reasons) to move to something bigger and with more facilities, to a different area which has something different to offer, and with more potential. Also – at some point everyone needs a change, something new, something different.
I’ve been out on a few house-hunting jaunts with them now, exploring places we don’t know, looking at houses and communities rather than castles and museums and shopping centres. We’re looking with different eyes, using our imaginations to “live” in a different environment, checking the checklist of requirements in any property and any area. A couple of days ago we went to a town we didn’t know very well to look at a property of interest. It was near enough the centre, but out enough to access the countryside – and also there was a massive public area nearby with many mature trees, little streams, parkland, activity areas, and wild flowers in abundance.
The property was lovely indeed, well maintained, beautifully decorated, and the furnishings of the present owners showed the possibilities for living there. It fulfilled the brief in many ways, in terms of space and utilities, and could be moved into without needing to do a single thing. However, lovely though it was, it just lacked that essential but intangible something, and being on a main road there was inevitably the sound of vehicles all the time. We said thanks, but it wasn’t the one, and we left to mull over what we’d seen and process our thoughts.
The search goes on!
My featured image is of Lyme Regis, well outside our search area, but such a lovely place and so many pretty properties!
Lois Elsden 