Not as in the game show title I gave to a rather vile and scary TV series in my follow-up to Londonia . . . but us, moving on, to a new abode. Or rather an old 1968 breeze block built abode as opposed to our current large and elegant 1830s house.
A couple of reasons: achey stuff that is not really going away - our doc looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said: 'the cure for hip and back tendonitis . . . stop doing the things that cause the problem - i.e lots of heavy gardening, wood shifting, hefty housework. You're not thirty anymore, or even forty, or . . OK, I said, I get it.
A section of the garden
The wood
Also, it's time for a town stint. Mark needs to be near other musicians, and to be able to give music lessons as our earning potential as artists is pretty useless, to say the least.
It wasn't an easy idea to take on board at the outset. All the work we've done here, the magnificent garden, the privilege of living in a beautiful old house with all its history. Mark was not keen, mainly as uprooting all our stuff again was indeed an unpleasant idea, exhausting, just the idea of it! But thanks to a rather crazy 1970s house I had pinpointed on the main island of Saumur, he began to imagine life in the town. We visited the house a few times and put in an offer but due to the long standing feud between the inheritors of said house, none of them were speaking to each other. The weeks turned into a few months and still one of them refused to accept the offer, so we started house hunting again.
Meanwhile our house had had an offer and we had gladly accepted, mainly as the lovely buyers have the same vision as us - preserve the garden as a haven for wildlife as it has been for the last forty five years - thanks in great part to our wonderful previous house occupant who had planted most of the trees, bushes and flower gardens. You have to accept when selling a property that your potential buyers may have very different ideas to you, and our hearts had sunk a few times as folk had talked of selling off the wood (madness! absolute insanity when the wood provides all the house's heating!) or had talked of ripping things out in order to install a pool, etc... We are supremely happy to know that the house's next dwellers will love the house, and continue to add life to these incredible gardens.
So, the next project . . . very different. No wood (sob) but a reasonable space for creaky people to carry on the nature welcoming idea - a bird refuge, pond to be added, trees to be planted, vines and wisteria to be grown for shade, and vegetables to be grown on the weird long strip of fertile-looking garden behind the house. The agent had described the property as atypical, and I had said, that's ok, we are too. And it is - a very odd layout but the main interest being the large salon. I had been searching for a house with such a room so we can finally install our inherited grand piano (thank you dear Rosemary) and even do house concerts, music lectures etc. Another reason that the house 'spoke' to us three is that there is a view of the railway line from Thoars, through Saumur and on to Chateau du Loire. This will be the third house we have lived in which features a railway line as part of its soundscape, something we love!
Large salon with deer's head - previous occupant was a keen hunter
The location is interesting; on a road where there were once thirty windmills, now, four, non-functioning, and an enjoyable amble into town via the Saumur Chateau into the main square for the weekly market and joy! cafés etc. Life will be more on foot, and the dog walks surrounding the house are new and inspiring.
So, time to amass boxes, purge stuff - had a good go already - a car boot load of ? to Emmaus, and much more to go . . . why do we keep all this stuff? I'll try hard this time to not let the clutter encroach.
