Hope of Things to Come

Two weeks from today and we will be moving into our new home. I can’t wait! I keep reminding everyone that next week is the last full week of living in the hotel and to just hang in there. Fortunately, we are getting out most days and seeing friends we haven’t seen in a long time which has been just lovely. Today, however, every.single.one. of us woke up with a sore, scratchy throat – the promise of a head cold to come. DD2 has a double whammy as she was diagnosed with a painful cyst yesterday so is on a course of antibiotics. Needless to say, that today is not one of those days where my positivity coaching is being taken very well 😁

I thought that today I would drop in and show you some pictures of our new home. There is a LOT of work that I have ahead of me in the garden. It is a skeleton really but it has a lovely green lawn and ample of space to put in a small fruit orchard, a lovely kitchen garden and plenty of space for an English Cottage garden…my favourite. 

All our friends and family who have seen these pictures remark on how similar this house is to the beloved home we had in Chesterfield. We were so, SO happy there. The moment I saw this house I fell in love with it and I think that it is because of the similarities. We are set to move in on Tuesday the 2nd of October. On the first following Saturday, I intend on finding my nearest garden centre and buying my annual autumn pots of chrysanthemums. 

Would you look at that front entrance above… below was the front entrance to my Chesterfield home…

You can see the full posts on my autumn decor for 2014 HERE and HERE. I still have that chalkboard and plan on doing something very similar this year. I have to say that I am itching to get decorating. This is my favourite time of the year and I have these deep ingrained seasonal rituals that I absolutely delight in so being unable to decorate or bake or pootle about my home while I see the signs of autumn all around me is so hard! Still…the equinox is not until later on this week so autumn has not officially arrived, makes me feel a little better thinking that anyway.

Above you will see a HUGE back patio, honestly, I can see this being a little oasis with our garden furniture and then lots of beautiful terracotta posts full of pretty flowering things. I’d quite like to put one of those large fire bowls out here for atmospheric evening entertaining. That field that you see has horses living in it. That room to the right is the living room. It has a sliding door onto the patio as you can see and a big picture window overlooking the horse field so plenty of light which is what I love during winter months. A conservatory would have been perfect but there is always a compromise to be made. Nothing is perfect.

Now above is the front garden. As I mentioned it has a really lovely lawn and what you cannot see to the right is the perfect spot for my small orchard. We have sweeping country views out this side and that shed you see on the left is a cowshed. When we viewed the property there were baby cows living there that had been weaned from their mothers. They are too cute and ever so curious as to who we were and what we were doing.

Being in the middle of farmland the road that lies just on the other side of the hedge often has tractors buzzing about which I love. I like being surrounded by farm life. Our home in Devon was the same and I loved to just stop and watch the farmer buzzing about his fields ploughing or making hay. My kitchen window has this view too, a lovely big picture window and a double kitchen sink so washing dishes is going to be a pleasure. I like a kitchen sink with a view, don’t you?

As we get to know our landlord I’m hoping that he will be amenable to us adding a few chickens to our family in the spring. We used to have a small flock of chickens when we lived in South Africa. The girls absolutely loved them and would love to have some more. Ahhh, the plans and dreams! Isn’t that one of the things that makes life so exciting? A simple life well lived and seasoned with love and kindness is what we all need.

So lovelies, I will love and leave you until next time. I hope that you are having a lovely week and I’ll see you back here very soon.