A lot has happened since my last post. Rural life is good :-) The house we moved into in 2015 was an old cottage in the middle of nowhere, with lots of charm and gorgeous views. We loved it there, but it wasn't ours, we couldn't do much in there, we couldn't garden as the landlords weren't happy with that, so my gardening ambitions had to be reduced to 20-odd containers in the porch. The usual joys of renting.
And then something happened. As it often happens in life, a good change was triggered by not so great events. Our landlord told us in December 2015 that they were selling the house and we had to move out. We started looking at other rentals, went to view a couple but there wasn't really anything in our area that we liked. I was starting to worry, but then a family member asked - why don't you buy your own house? Well, the answer was, because we didn't have any money for a mortgage deposit.
And that's where the miracle comes in. Once we redirected our thinking from renting to buying, over the course of a month we managed to source just enough money to get a 95% mortgage on a decent house. I won't go into detail here as it involved a lot of good will from other people rather than some magic money-making trick, but the point is, we got approved for a mortgage and started looking at houses.
We viewed many, we loved a few, we bid on some and had our hearts broken when we didn't get them (after having mentally moved in). We briefly considered buying the house we were renting, but decided that long-term it wasn't really for us, as it was too far from civilisation for someone who doesn't drive (me), with not a single shop, bus stop or any other facility within walking distance. And then we found THE house.
Nothing went quickly or smoothly, on the contrary, it took many months (thank heavens for our patient landlord who kept on extending our rental instead of kicking us out) and many nerve-racking situations before we finally got it. But we did. We moved in on the 8th July 2016. We have a home... It's not just a roof over our heads. It's my life-long dream. I have lived in 14 different places spread over 2 countries and 7 cities. I hated every single move, I wanted nothing more than to put down roots, make a place my own, have a permanent home, settle down. And now I have just that.
I really hope to get better at blogging, I feel that I need this. I am hoping to write a lot about our house, as it's work in progress, and my garden, which isn't huge, and not much of a garden at the moment - it needs a lot of work done. Getting the house sorted was (is) our priority when we first moved in, so I decided not to rush with the gardening, instead get it ready for next growing season and start then with plenty of time for planning and preparation.
Our house isn't quite as rural as the cottage we were renting before, but it's still in the countryside. We live right on the edge of a village, in a small cul-de-sac with views from our garden onto open fields and woods. It's beautiful and I can't believe how lucky I am to live in such an amazing place on earth.
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