Skip to main content

OMG!


OMG what a weekend! We have gone in a few short weeks from debating whether to put our house onto the market, to putting it on and wondering whether we'd get interest, to having viewings where everyone seemed interested, to having an offer for the full asking price on less than 2 weeks! We accepted the offer on Friday from a couple looking to move closer to their family for various reasons. they loved it and made it clear they would make an offer before they left the house so it was a good omen. 

Of course this meant that we needed to make a decision on what to do next. The people buying ours would prefer a short exchange and long completion so we have time, and it would fit with school, but of course no-one in this family has that sort of patience! 


Glenn and I booked to see 4 houses on Saturday, leaving the girls at home to look after themselves, but more importantly the dogs - Abi sending me regular updates to prove everything was ok!  Having had a long chat on the way down we ditched one of the viewings, leaving us a C16 listed farmhouse with a thatch roof (everything we have ever been told not to buy but Glenn loved it on paper), a rectory, also in Trull, where the massive house was unfortunately compromised by the fact that the owners had built in the garden so cut it in half and a mystery barn conversion with no details online. 

The first thing to say is that estate agents should not be allowed to use fish eye lenses on their cameras as they are so deceiving. The long wode drive on the thatched property was a car width and no more, and the thatch was in more dire need of repair than the details would have you believe, At £1.1m it felt like a push and you would need to wear a helmet indoors to saving cracking your head every time you moved from one room to another. Glenn was still keen but I came out almost in tears because I was so unmoved by it - it was a no from me. After a cup of tea with Kerrie and Ryan (more news but kids said I can't share yet!), we went to the Old Rectory. This was a much lighter, brighter house, and (once past the fact that it was immensely tired) with a shed load of money you could make it into a lovely home, but it was a lot of work and needed the price to be about £200k less than it was on for. Another no. 

Feeling disheartened we treated ourselves (not, we had limited time), we set off for the mystery house. This was a barn conversion on the edge of a little village called Stoke St Mary, about 3 miles outside of Taunton. We drove up to it not knowing what to expect as it isn't yet finished and the details online are scant. As we got nearer the rain stopped, the sun came out and glinted off the roof of a building set against the treeline of Stoke Hill and looking out over a truly beautiful vista. We were immediately smitten and, despite the shortcomings - its smaller currently than our house and has only one (huge) living space, we can see so much potential. After a discussion with the builder and a good look around, we knew it was for us.... so we bought it! It was a bit of a gut instinct but one I think we will be very happy with. 

Tomorrow we are off for breakfast and drop dogs at Mum and Dads, before going back to have a better look with the girls in tow, lunch at Amanda's back to Stocklinch for a walk and cup of tea then home for a very quiet Christmas given Newbury is in Tier 4 now and the government has decreed that Christmas 2020 should be confined to 1 day and immediate family. Let's hope 2021 brings better times for us all.

Our view for 2021



  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Snow!

After a beautiful day of sunshine yesterday, today it snowed... but more of that in a minute. Yesterday actually felt like a day of much progress. Despite Covid we managed to arrange a visit to Taunton School to have a look around with the girls and to meet the Headmaster. This was a massive relief as I had got to the point of thinking we would have to accept a place without ever stepping foot inside the school. In the end we had a very comprehensive, if a little deserted, tour of the school and the kids loved it, as did we. There may even be a small chance they might squeeze us in if we are there by the summer term - that is of course if the kids are back into school by then. The other news was that I managed to speak to Mr &Mrs Tucker - the people buying our house - and we tentatively agreed that we will try and complete during the Easter holidays which could have us moving in the third week of April. This does require everyone to have got all of what they need done, and that of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Showtime!

It's that time of year again, the Newbury Show, and this year I made a point of not planning on going with anyone else as that always results in dissatisfaction as we don't get to do the things we really wanted to do. The weather forecast was a tale of 2 halves this weekend, with glorious sunshine and summer temperatures on Saturday, followed by torrential rain and lightening for Sunday. Of course this meant that anybody contemplating the show made the decision to go on Saturday, us included. Given we knew the A34 would be a car park we took the back roads and despite the traffic being heavy it wasn't too bad - helped by the fact that we had already resigned ourselves to a queue. On getting there it was clear that the weather had brought out massive crowds and everywhere was packed, with the tents steaming and the poor animals looking like they'd had enough by lunchtime. We went into the pig tent and half the pigs had sensibly knocked their water buckets over to have ...
Post a Comment
Read more