A very special day

29th April 2011 was a very special day. Whilst I was in London attending a certain high-profile wedding, Ian was spending his last day in gainful employment. This new freedom meant that we were able to step up a gear in our search for a new home. We had our house valued to give us an idea of our budget and gave ourselves a year to get the house ready for sale and to finally decide where we wanted to be.

We had over the previous two or three years spent many long weekends and some weeks exploring our search area, ticking or crossing boxes along the way.

The 'Chemist' at Blists Hill Victorian Village, near Ironbridge

In Shropshire we spent a week self-catering near Ironbridge, visiting all its museums, following the town trail in Shrewsbury (a place I had been to many times as a child on shopping trips but had no recollection of it being such a pretty medieval town), hiking along Wenlock Edge, and having lunch in a charming café in Stafford (Ye Olde Soup Kitchen). In the end, although we liked the area very much and will go back again for holidays, we felt that whilst there was plenty of countryside, it just didn't feel right for us, it gets very cold in the winter and yes, it was too far from the sea!

Herefordshire and Gloucestershire are much like Shropshire with beautiful countryside and lovely villages. Hereford itself, however, where we stayed for a long October weekend couple of years ago, was spookily quiet in the evening. We walked from our B&B on both Friday and Saturday evenings and had meals in the centre of town. At Pizza Express on the Friday only two other tables were occupied. Walking back through the centre of the town there were just a few other people ambling about.

Gloucester, like Bath – another favourite place of ours – was just too expensive for what we wanted. It does have a lovely cathedral, though, and a very smart former docks/quays area which is being done up and converted into a smart residential accommodation.

Slowly but surely we were being drawn towards the south west and search area narrowed to Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset.