Well... (and a garden update)

And so, just like that, we have sold our house. 

Of course, it wasn't 'just like that' at all. There were tears, tantrums, endless trips to Wickes and visits to friends, and much late night tidying and sorting and painting. 

But the photographer came (and was here for hours, and made our home look beautiful), and the next day we had a for sale sign in the garden (after a brief period of it being in someone else's garden, which must have been quite alarming for them). 

Over the next week we had sixteen viewings, three offers (and several counter offers, and retracted offers, and increased counter offers), and eventually we said yes. And of course, as soon as we did, someone jumped back in with a higher price. We said no - we're retaining some shred of sanity by acting as much as we can with good manners and integrity. 

It's a strange thing, having people wander round your house. I thought I'd feel judged, but by the time it went up for sale, it really didn't feel like our house any more. We've made so many changes (and I will share some of them), and packed away so many things, that it feels more like a holiday cottage. 

On the first day of viewings the sun shone obligingly, and even I couldn't quite believe how well the house looked. The third person to view went straight to the estate agents and offered, and it was her offer we accepted in the end (after much to-ing and fro-ing between us and with other people - I've never had so many phone calls in my life).

Of course, nothing is ever straightforward. Our buyer has to sell her house before she can buy ours, and we've given her quite a short deadline (I'm confident she can do it!) And we, having finally put ours up for sale after finding our dream house, have decided that the location of our dream house may not be quite as idyllic as the house itself. 

We've found an alternative, but it needs a lot of work. A two hundred year old cottage in a national park, with peeling wallpaper, mouldy carpets and a slightly precarious roof. And a greenhouse, woodland, outbuildings and a beautiful view. 

We've put in an offer, and are keeping our fingers crossed. 

Our searching has taken us to many beautiful places. This is a big move for us, and we want to be as sure as we can about the place we move to. We spend our weekends wandering between cafes and poking around potential new houses as much as we dare, and after work we sometimes drive out and just sit and listen. We've learned a lot doing this, but it's actually a nice activity in its own right. 

In the meantime, I've been pottering in the garden. My efforts have been focused on the house these last few months, and outside the raspberries have died and the willow is reaching for the telephone wires. But at the last minute I spent a small fortune on bedding plants, and with the lavender, the fuchsia, and the redcurrants, the garden looked as beautiful as the house. 

Once we'd accepted an offer, we breathed a sigh of relief, closed the door, and life started to return to some vague kind of normality (albeit still with a lot of phone calls from the estate agent - I'll miss those guys when this is all over). On Sunday, I picked some of the remaining gooseberries, and sat de-stalking them in the garden ready for making jam. 

I haven't actually got round to making that jam yet, and the gooseberries are now in the freezer. I remembered that I do, in fact, have a full time job, and rather inconveniently that has required me to do a fair bit of travelling these last few weeks. Just this week I've spent over 20 hours on trains and buses. I'm tired. 

But we're getting there. This waiting is hard, but being able to sit still makes a nice change from painting and plastering and gluing and sticking. At least while we wait we can drink tea, and see friends, and rest. And, of course, investigate questions like 'are you allowed to replace metal framed windows in a national park?' and 'just how much does it cost to put in a new heating system?' I'm going to know so many things when all this is over. 

I'll miss this little garden when we leave. I might look back at pictures from when I first moved here and see how far we've come. It feels like it looks after itself now (apart from the willow), and now I have a bit more time, I can just sit out there and read. 

Our new garden, if all goes to plan, will be much bigger, and no doubt I'll be marvelling and cursing in equal measure about that. But for now, I'll just sit and wait, with as much patience as I can muster.