Homes and Castles

Back in the 1980's after a whirlwind relationship, we decided to buy a house in Weymouth, Dorset. We were both in the Royal Navy so had good, secure jobs and property was booming.

This was the house we bought. A nice two bedroomed modern home on a nice new estate. Ours is the bit to the left on this photo. The other side belonged to a hairy biker and his girlfriend.

I don't remember looking at many houses, I think we saw a couple in the same area and then saw this one. At the time you couldn't hang around, you had to get your offer in asap or there was a good chance you would get gazumped especially with this kind of house.

The trill of buying furniture and other housey stuff was amazing. We had nothing. We weren't married so had no wedding presents piled up, it was a case of shop, shop, shop.

There were problems moving in, due to the vedors new house being delayed, but apart from that we moved in, arranged the furniture and began a life living together rather than in Naval Quarters.

After a few months we decided to build a conservatory on the back and make more of the garden. Dorset is a beautiful sunny place to live so being able to sit out in the garden until late most of the summer was wonderful. There were lots of lush green fields around for us to walk the dog we bought soon after moving in. (Our first Norwegian Elkhound, Spooky). Life was good.

A few years later hubby got a draft to Ayrshire in Scotland. I had by then left the Navy and was working as a trainer for a cosmetics company, working across the south coast. Hubby's family lived in Northumberland, mine in Lancashire. We decided against buying a house in Scotland and instead looked for one in Northumberland. The main factor was that house prices in Northumberland were much lower and we would be able to buy a decent family home.

This was the one we ended up with. This time there was lots of trauma while going through the house buying process. First house the vendors went with another offer which meant we had to keep travelling up from Dorset in order to find somewhere to live before hubby's draft started. This house was a little over our budget so we didn't go to see it initially, but as fate often does, at the point of desperation the vendors reduced the price and we decided to have a look.

It was one of those houses that you know as you walk in that it is the one. I loved it. Large rooms, nicely decorated, large garden and a nice quiet estate on the outskirts of the town. We had several happy years in this house and also the arrival of our first child.
Although it was a three bedroomed house, there was an option to extend and make it into a four, which others in the estate had done successfully, but we got itchy feet when we saw new houses being built about a mile away. Our estate was surrounded by other houses, the new ones were surrounded by fields and open land. We decided to move into a brand new home.

I decided not to post a picture at risk of having hoardes of followers turn up on my doorstep.

It was exciting watching your house grow from a muddy hole to a few walls and then a house with a roof! Choices, choices. Which bathroom suite, tiles, kitchen units, wardrobe doors, carpets.........! Lots of headaches and disagreements, but finally we moved in to the smell of new plaster and gloss paint.

It is now thirteen years since that day. There are now estates all around us, and only one of the four fields left - for the time being. We knew this would happen. We are getting itchy feet again. The other side of town 'South Beach' is calling us. Little Dude goes to school there, and it is closer to Big Dudes friends in the next town. We spent a fortune driving there and back at least twice a day. There is a beach and lots of open fields for the dogs at that side of town. We wish we had the foresight to move there originally.

If we don't move then I will need a new kitchen!