A New Beginning or Back to Square One

Hello from the Wild West!

Slowly, slowly we come back to surface. If anybody says we had a hard time, then this is the utter understatement but - and I say it almost daily to dear EG - WE DID IT!!!

Moving house is a big event, moving a farm with all its contents and animals is a huge task but moving country on top of that is a real challenge. It took us more than two weeks since the very house removal end of August, to rest our bodies and to start to settle and every day is like a new adventure.

Luckily, the house, our forever-home, is in a good state and nothing vital is missing. Of course, there is room for improvement and we will bit by bit fix all what we want for our comfort. Change, embellish, design, invent, modernise, make more practical and so on.

We have left a lot behind. And now we start again. Every box seems like a discovery, every room seems unknown but becomes known when the content of a box transforms it into 'ours'. I think the transformation is somewhat difficult because we bought the house with its furniture. Some items have been donated to the Red Cross, some items went to my new Welsh teacher, Keith, the man from the tip. Homebaked cake against Welsh language in its real pronouncing :-). Suddenly the travel to the tip is something I appreciate. My kind of barter business!

Here are some impressions of the last exciting days:

Loading vintage cars in Belgium 

instead of one truck... came two 😮. All the time management went pear-shaped

4 days of stress later... trucks could never reach the final destination. But all 5 cars made it at the end.

My first Village Fete! Produce competition

Flower competition

Cake competition

Dog competition

We bought raffle tickets and WON! First prize! Pub meal for two 💕

Finally the removal truck - much later than agreed, more stress!

But the removal truck was not big enough, despite detailed list of goods. More stress by quickly hiring a small truck

Having to say good-bye to my feathered friends because of transport ban due to sudden outbreak of bird flu was heartbraking. But they found a good new home.

Robby enjoying the last moments on the farm

Minnie does the same in between the removal boxes

Traveling for more than 12 hours. WE DID IT!!!

Next day - perfect wedding weather 👰

Quickly preserving the last harvest from the farm

Finding decent egg supply

                             WE DID IT!!!

Home is where the dog is 💙

I am now busy with the last move: horse is still on the paddock and will be loaded hopefully soon. Wish me luck.

Bitter Sweet Farewell

Our beloved farm, for nearly 18 years our home and shelter, is sold. Within the day it was on the market and the first visitors to view it, they fell in love with it and closed the deal at the asking price the same day. There are now a lot of loosers out there...

I cannot believe how things accelerate and in a speed that is scary. However, a young, very enthousiastic, very happy family is keen to move in as quick as possible and this holds now some challenges to EG--- moving all the cars and all the things we don't want to be without in our new home.

The most wonderful moments were spent in our little paradise and we will miss it dearly. But, thankfully we know where we will end up and are looking forward to start afresh in our Old Vicarage in Wild West Wales,

The hard work of the last weeks is accomplished and instead of having plenty of strangers and noisy visitors wandering around our place, it is done and dusted and everybody is happy. Ok, the young family is perhaps a bit more happy than EG and myself right now, but it all feels right. They will grow into the place, they love the pond, they love the old stones and they appreciate all the hard work which was done to realize the stunning result.

On one hand, I feel like burying an old friend and on the other hand I feel like handing over the flame to a next generation. A lovely young family with a dream, the appreciation of generations of hard work to keep the place alive and the desire to give their children the best possible start in the most natural environment. As they said in their own words, 'we are a very happy family and to complete our happiness, we needed a happy house with space'. They were searching for this place for the last two years. Heyho.