Escape to the country? what happenened next

"Downsizing?" he queried, "yes" I said. "the best idea I've had yet. That is of course if you can cope with a smaller house", I added. He laughed out loud. He has a tendency to do that, when I come up with an idea, I think its excitement or something. Well I like to think of myself as the, imaginative one, my notions are mostly great ones I might add, some good and the odd crazy one. Whether my other half would agree on that ratio, I doubt it, but then he doesn’t have my vision

Beautiful view to the left

Anyway it was part of a big idea to retire early, recover some equity from the house and move, where houses were cheaper and pace of life slower. You know the usual,  village with a pub, nice walks good community feel. Anyhow, then we put the house on the market and it decided to crash! Don't panic, I had this other idea that we should, simply push on and be brave. We did eventually sell the house, for much less than it was originally valued at, but then again who said it was worth that much in the first place?. We found a house with a great view. Remember I have the vision. But anyone could see it had a great view

It was definitely smaller and just about made all the moving and, downsizing worth it. No one told me quite how much moving would cost though so,  if you are thinking about it, make sure you include that in your budget. Anyway moving along swiftly,  was exactly what we did, because we had sold our house and the buyers were keen to move in. with only one person behind them in the chain. Our “vendors” had built a new house and were ready to move out. With this very small chain we were moved within a month! That’s not normal but it was good for us.

and expansive view to the right

We both liked the new house, it was a joint decision to buy it., We agreed things needed doing to the house and we both had ideas about what we would do when we moved in, but that’s where the synchronicity ended. Our visions were a bit disparate to say the least.  We decided to live in it for a while and let our plans develop organically (that’s code for giving me time to get my ideas agreed!) I encouraged Phil that we needed to get to know the house and discover how we lived in it for a while.

Inside  restricted view, cold and dark (Thick walls!)

So there we are escaped to the country in a house built in 1845, with a few electric storage heaters, no gas supply, a little coal fire in the equally tiny living room, looking out to a lovely view through, you got it, “tiny” windows. It was July and hot outside but it was actually cold in the house. Anyone who says old  20” thick  stone walls are great because they keep a house warm in the winter and cool in the summer is trying to sell you the house!. Why do you think builders went on to design cavity walls!

More ideas soon

Alison