Busy, Amost Too Busy To Write!

Published on by Margaret

Today I want to write! We’ve been  so busy recentlythat some things, like writing have had to be abandoned. We’ve been house-hunting and it is not only time consuming, it is frustrating, expensive (because we’re looking for a house in another part of the country), and fast becoming an obsession. We think, talk and dream about finding the “perfect” house – even though I know Kirstie Allsop (Location, Location, Location) insists it doesn’t exist and would have a real go at me for being so picky. Almost all my time on the internet is spent looking for houses and I’m sadly neglecting reading blogs as well as writing my own.

We’ve looked at all sorts of properties,( some in person and some online):

  • New builds
  • Bungalows
  • Converted mill buildings
  • Converted castle buildings
  • Mews houses in town
  • Isolated country cottages
  • Houses on busy main roads
  • Converted bank buildings –

We’ve viewed properties with fishing rights – next to rivers and a lake. How about this for a view?

Or this?

We’ve wondered what it would be like living without any or no near neighbours, with beautiful views in places where you have to go miles just to post a letter or buy milk. We’ve considered whether we could live in a town surrounded by other people or on a main road with all the noise and hassle of traffic roaring by.

We had almost decided on one house, which had a room we could use as a library, but the location wasn’t quite right and then it was sold to someone else. So it was back to scouring the internet – so many houses look beautiful until you see where they are or the locations look fantastic but the houses need too much work, or are too small, too big or too expensive. We’ve looked at the Borders and the north-west around Carlisle. Next up we’re visiting the north-east coast, hoping to find a house near the sea, not too far from civilisation, with room for all our  books, away from a busy road, not overlooked, and a smallish garden with a lovely view. Or am I asking too much? I would like a walled garden too, but that is expecting far too much I know.

I have been reading amidst all this the house- hunting. I’ve finished reading The Riddle of the River by Catherine Shaw and The Brading Collection by Patricia Wentworth and right now I’ve nearly finished Pardonable Lies (a Maisie Dobbs mystery) by Jacqueline Winspear. At a motorway service station I bought The Private Patient by P D James and Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig (Buy 1 Get 1 Half Price) and today I borrowed six books from the library (I was getting withdrawal symptoms). I think I’ll write about those tomorrow.

I have several posts I want to write – about our visits to Kew Gardens, to the Courtauld Art Gallery in London, and to the site of the Battle of Flodden at Flodden Field near Branxton in Northumberland, not to mention writing about books.

12 thoughts on “Busy, Amost Too Busy To Write!”

  1. I know exactly what you mean! When we have looked for houses, we get so frustrated and tired from it. And then we end up settling for something that isn’t perfect just because we want to get the process over with! So good for you for sticking it out! Your ideal place sounds wonderful!

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  3. You will find that perfect house. The house which is meant for us, I think calls out to us to live in there. Likewise, your perfect housewill call out to you.

    In a few months time I too would be hunting a house for myself.

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  4. A friend just moved to a house with no near neighbors, so I was just thinking a week or so ago that I probably would NOT care for that. I think I’d like space, I’d like room for a garden (your walled garden wish sounds quite reasonable), but I know I would hate having to drive far to get milk or tomato sauce or whatever. But that’s what’s wonderful about life — people get to choose what they want!
    I like your book list. I THINK that this is the Maisie Dobbs book I read, but can’t remember. I like it, and want to get back to that series, when the stack of others gets whittled down a lot. I just had a bunch of reserves come in at the library, so I’m feeling some pressure. Recently finished My Splendid Concubine, which was quite good. It’s set in 19th century China, featuring a young man struggling to adapt to Chinese culture while dealing with the conflicts caused by his Christian upbringing. VERY interesting look at a time and culture about which I knew very little.

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  6. The views are beautiful. I hope that you find just the right house. We were renting ours and bought it when the owner decided to sell, because moving would be so disruptive. And I’ve turned out to love our little house even though the previous owners did everything behind the walls so shoddily it’s taken a lot of work that was unanticipated. And I rented the house by chance, wanting to share another one in the neighbourhood. That was before h and kids. And it’s turned out to be on the perfect street and in the perfect place for kids, at least for me: park, library, school, arena, boys and girls club are all on this street within a 7 minute walk. So I believe that your house is waiting and will turn up.

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  7. Good luck on your house searching. I would take my time and wait for the right place–it’s sure to come along eventually. And any with a view like the ones above would be perfect. And no close neighbors would be heaven (as I sit with my windows open listening to my neighbors shouting at their kids….and each other…ugh). At least you’re squeezing in reading too! 🙂

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  9. It’s heart-breaking and exhausting, isn’t it? But definitely a house away from busy traffic. I once lived in a road called Clent View. Oh yes, you could see the Clent HIlls all right, but in between the house and the hills was the M5! Never again. You know I’m thinking of you. Take Care.

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  10. I don’t mean to minimize all your hard work in finding a house but – it sounds rather fun to me as you mentioned some very fantastic places I’ve only read about. I hope you find just the right place soon.

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  12. I almost hate to say ‘been there/done that’…we moved from the big city of Washington DC to 32 acres of woods in Maine. We have to drive ‘into town’ to get the mail, but the view on the river (it’s really a bay off the ocean) and the quiet and beauty makes up for it. There are neighbors w/in a mile so we’re not entirely alone. We did however, have to design, and build the house to get what we wanted. In spite of what every one says, that was actually fun. We learned a lot about ourselves as a couple, and really came up with a house that is exactly what we wanted. Hard work, but worth it. SO…..take a deep breath and keep looking. You’ll know it when you see it, whether it’s land with room for a dream or a dream house on land already come true.

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