Being a couple that has always yearned for more, we took a leap of faith in 2017, mere weeks after getting married, and moved to Dorset.

We are what you would call an ‘outdoorsy’ couple. The husband is an avid angler, spending most weekends under a brolly or tucked away in a bush in pursuit of some ancient carp or another. On the other hand, I have always kept horses and find great enjoyment in training and working our two spaniels. You could say that a move to the country was always on the cards. We found ourselves no longer needing to live in ‘Commuter Belt’. Our careers had taken us in unexpected directions. We didn’t benefit from the easy commute into Town or from the extensive network of motorways that living in NW London brought. The things we had to compromise on in order to live close to Town just weren’t worth it anymore…

The only benefit left became clear when our little 3 bed suburban semi was valued. A total ‘ca-ching’ moment!! In the 4 years we had lived there the little darling had doubled in value…admittedly we had put a small second storey extension on it but it was still returning a very tidy profit!! It opened the door for our ‘escape to the country’ adventure.

If I was to tell you that only at this point did we start to look at houses, I would be a big fat liar. BUT we had yet to find one to tempt the husband who was dragging his heels and lusting after the proximity to certain lakes and friends that we would leave behind. He even tried to use excuses such as ‘not being able to stand up in the living room’ as the reason for not buying what I was convinced was my dream house. We soon found that being 6”4 and living in a thatched cottage was out of the question…

On the off chance, an agent called and told us about a property that we had been stalking online, for some reason we hadn’t been tempted to view it. We were in the area visiting the coming weekend so we had nothing to lose…Viewing it gave us butterflies!! All those excited feelings you experienced when you were a child on Christmas morning came flooding back. We kept throwing each other furtive looks as we walked around, did each of us like it as much as the other did? The wide grin on Mr ‘keeps his cards close to his chest’ was enough to say it all! We bought the house. We ended up selling our house whilst on honeymoon in South Africa, on safari, with no signal and very little internet access. Not something that we would recommend to anyone.

The keys were collected mere days before Christmas and four months on we are well and truly living the dream. Our new country life is nothing like we had expected it to be. There is so much to do, so much going on and it’s proved to us that as a young, childless couple you don’t have to live in the city. There is more to life than coffee shops and trendy bistros (although we do still enjoy these things in abundance as well).

 

Nowadays you will find us in the garden, obsessing over our chickens and finding great pleasure in a garden centre bargain. Oh how things have changed… Our advice to anyone sitting on the fence about moving or staying put…do it! Just take the leap of faith, trust in that instinct that’s calling you to the countryside and don’t worry about what you are leaving behind. You’ll discover so much more in its place.

 

 

Jemma - Please do pop by and say hello on our instagram page and if you're thinking of moving here let me know so I can answer any questions you might have.