Our Story So Far

So here it is, the first of what I hope will be many more blog posts. It’s taken a while to pluck up the courage to start writing about our life, but here we go. To start I thought I’d give you a little insight into our new{ish} home on Exmoor and how we got here. 

In January of 2015 my (now) husband and I took the big step to move in together and found a sweet little worker’s cottage in Buckinghamshire (where we both had lived with respective parents at the time). We loved the cottage, I mean after all who doesn’t love their first home? And to top things off it was situated in a lovely village in which we have been fortunate enough to have made some friends for life. However, after a few wonderful years we began to feel squished and two things became apparent: firstly, we had a lot of hobbies and these seemed to come with a lot of well stuff. Secondly and more importantly we had outgrown our home. 

We knew this day would come eventually, after all a two-up two-down works to start with, but add a dog and the future possibility of a family, it was inevitable that we couldn’t stay there forever. As I’m sure many of you are aware it doesn’t make it any easier though and we both found leaving our first home as a couple and all its memories behind difficult.

Anyway, despite this being only our second turn at moving into a home. With previous bad experiences in mind, Matthew and I made the executive decision that this, our first proper move, would be our only move. EVER. So began the hunt for our forever home. As cliché as it sounds, somewhere we could grow old together, surrounded by animals {particularly important!}  and perhaps even pass onto a future generation one day.  

Although originally born in Devon my family moved to Buckinghamshire when I was little. Dad being a dairy farmer, we lived in tied accommodation on the farm. Being in the home-counties though meant we were never more than 15 minutes from a town. This was amazing, I mean best of both worlds and all. But as I grew older and with visits back to see the family more and more I felt drawn back to Exmoor. Back to the small winding hedge lined lanes, vast expanse of the heather filled moorland and quaint country villages almost stuck in time. For me, this really did feel like a move home.  

Matthew on the other hand was Bucks born and bred. It seemed that Exmoor had also worked its magic on him too however, through our Spring visits to help to lamb at my Aunt & Uncles’ hill farm. He was excited for the change, dare I say maybe even more so than I was! So, upon the completion of my masters and with Matthew working from home the timing couldn’t have been more perfect; The only thing left to do, take the plunge.

Our search started in August 2016 and whilst on honeymoon {we had promised ourselves to pause the search whilst away but couldn’t resist a quick look on the last few days. Whoops!} we fell in love with a white washed 3 bedroom country cottage, set on the edge of the National Park. The house itself catered for all our needs with tonnes of potential, a big hallway (a particular favourite of mine) and some quirky features too. Whilst we would have to compromise on the space outside (we had hoped for a couple of acres whilst we got around a third) there was, or rather there still is plenty of room for all our plans. Plans I’m looking forward to sharing with you all soon. 

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After the usual long winded process with solicitors and mortgage companies, we finally set the move date for the 22^ndof December. That’s right you heard me, three days before Christmas … 3 days!! And to make matters more, let’s say interesting, we were playing hosts to the in-laws on the day itself as well as my family on Boxing Day. We were either brave or stupid, perhaps a little bit of both but somehow, we managed it with no {okay a few} minor meltdowns. In fact, I’d say it was one of the best Christmases so far. 

Anyway, so began our new life in the South West and now a new blog to tell you all about it. 

Yours Daisy x