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Keys to Darncombe

16/12/19 16:56
We dropped into the estate agents and collected keys to our new home today.

Moving into a new home is rather like a seed being sown. You hope that you can put down roots, grow strong and eventually bloom in your new environment


Our new house really needs some love and attention, it has clearly been a family home that has become too much for its octogenarian owners to manage. Our first week here will be spent meeting with Plumbers, Electricians, Heating engineers as well as measuring everything and starting to make plans. The real work will start in the new year.
Wandering round the back garden, we took a short video to remind us of why we have chosen to root here.
Back Garden

Retired

06/12/19 16:32
I am now officially retired from the NHS. I have been in continuous employment since I left medical school in 1988. At the moment it still feels somewhat unreal that I do not need to download my rota onto my phone this weekend and will not be driving into the Hospital early each morning before starting to see patients and ready for the days work in theatre.
No more looking back, so Forward it is!
It should go without saying that we need to start to make plans;-
  • Christmas is rapidly approaching
  • We are still on Schedule to get the keys to our new home within two weeks
  • We really could do with planning a short break somewhere warm.
  • Basically my first few weeks of retirement are going to be crazily busy!

Weekend Checking up on Fenay Cottage

29/11/19 20:00
We decided to take a short break at Fenay Cottage:-
1. To check on the place and 2. To decorate the cottage ready for our Christmas Bookings.
Just to be clear, we have no intention of putting up any decorations until December the first!
Checking up on Fenay Cottage has raised a number of extremely important questions;
1. What sort of psychopath ignores the carefully chosen good quality wooden and silicone utensils that we have equipped the kitchen with, before selecting a sharp blade to prod frying food with? As far as we can work out prodding with a sharp knife is the only way to reproduce the damage that has been inflicted on the non stick lining of the frying pan. We were told by other holiday rental owners that we would need to replace frying pans annually and we can now see why!
2. Are there really people out there who are unable to light a fire? What sort of childhood must these poor souls have had, if they can't light a fire in a purpose designed wood burner with the provided firelighters, kindling and well seasoned logs? We have even left clear and simple step by step pictorial instructions! Finding a number of singed but not burnt logs (as though someone has held a match to the side of a log) has left us very concerned for the future of the human race should a major natural disaster occur.
3. Does everyone bleach their hair, and the bloody towels, when they go on holiday? The attrition rate for our coloured towels has been alarming, though on a positive note we now have a large number of bleach damaged towels that we can use to dry Dot after a damp walk or after a major romp on the beach.

Despite all of these issues/question renting our holiday cottage has many benefits.
We have really enjoyed reading the nice comments in our visitors book. It has been lovely to see Robin Hoods Bay and our cottage through the fresh eyes of our guests. One of our guests hand crafted a piece of pokerwork art as a thank you gift.

That anyone enjoyed our home sufficiently to want to produce a piece of art as a thank you is amazingly overwhelming. Thank you. XX


Dot continues her role as Fenay Cottage's official beach inspector. She has taken to sitting by the front door in an attempt to persuade us to take her to the beach. We are trying to teach her about tide times but she is struggling to get the concept.DSCN0272

Moving out November 2019

26/11/19 10:10
After several highly stressed and emotionally charged episodes we have finally completed and sold our home. We must say that we are particularly unimpressed with Open Door Property limited and especially Mr Naish, who lies as easily as a Tory MP, often forgetting his previous lie and telling you different stories almost daily. Never the less we have actually completed and are now able to move forward with our plans.

We are sad to leave The Laurels, after all it has been our family home for the last twenty one years and is the only home that our youngest offspring has ever known. We are proud to have been the caretakers of such a wonderful old house even for such a small part of its history, but it is time for someone else to take over the reins. The Laurels is definitely a family home and as such really needs a family to love it, we wish the new caretakers well.

We have put most of our possessions into storage and are going to stay with our Daughter and Son in Law who have kindly agreed to take their homeless parents (in law) in and avoid us having to sleep in a cardboard box shelter under the railway arches.

Our first few weeks will involve getting ourselves sorted so that we can minimise the disturbance to our kind hosts. We now have time to breathe before starting the campaign to purchase our new home, and we probably should start working on our plans for our new home.

Life Events

23/10/19 14:32
They say that moving house is a stressful and disruptive as other major life events, such as bereavement, major surgery or the birth of a child.
I remain firmly convinced the truth is that the prolonged and unforgiving nature of the English conveyancing process is more akin to the vicissitudes of organising a wedding or being a victim trapped in a horror movie.
I have at times felt manipulated, stressed, heartbroken, enraged, frustrated and abused all interspersed with short periods of confidence and satisfaction.
The problem with the English system is that actually getting the transaction (and thats all it really is) over the line is very difficult.
The early stages are easy:- Pick an estate agent, Get some pictures taken and get the text written then post online to the main property sites Right Move, Zoople and On the market.
These all work like dating sites and so the photographs are extremely important. Potential buyers will consign your carefully worded description of your property into the digital trash bin based on looking at your pictures on their mobile phones. No second chances, no appeals simply dumped due to poorly composed picture taken on a rainy day. Seriously, dress the house as if it is going on a date.

Tips for getting the best photographs.


  • Remove Clutter. Wide angle lenses show the whole room but make everything look closer together so take as much out of the room as you possibly can. Don't worry about returning some after the picture is taken remember if the room looks bare to your eyes it will also look bare to anyone viewing.
  • Think carefully about lighting. You can't do much about the weather (though if you look carefully you will see exactly the same pattern of clouds in the sky over different houses on the main sites). Lighting a room will change the way the picture looks. Stark flash photography is a definite no-no as is low wattage incandescent lights, both will significantly change the colour balance of the images and look wrong.
  • Look at good quality 'house and home' type magazines. They try to sell the lifestyle not just snap pictures. Fresh flowers in a vase, a carefully arranged coffee pot with cup and a quality magazine on the coffee table or even simply removing all the coats and shoes from the porch and hanging a single smart jacket and pair of classic shoes can make a huge difference.
  • As far as outside is concerned simple measures make a huge difference. Sweeping the path to the front door, hiding the bins and looking carefully at each window to check the view through them is tidy. After all people will subconsciously drop the value if a house looks uncared for.
Tips for writing a good description.
  • Google Map satellite view your house and street view it if possible. Look at when the images were taken and make sure you description includes or clarifies any changes made since google last imaged the area. We have had a barn conversion completed next door over the last two years but on Google street view is still looks like a ruin, as a result we made certain that some of the finished barn conversion was included in our pictures and we described the area as up and coming as a result of recently completed nearby building works.
  • Whist you may know that there is a good takeaway only five minutes away and that you are in a catchment area for a good school your potential buyers may not, so spell out the local features.
  • Transport links and commenting times to nearby towns / cities is well worth listing as potential buyers may search by town name and search engines will find the name in your description.
  • Talk about each room in turn, but be careful about your names for rooms, buyers may not realise that the downstairs bedroom might also work well as an additional reception room or vice versa. Certain potential buyers may be put off by a "dungeon play room" whereas they could be attracted by "useful cellar adaptable to a range of functions".

Once you have attracted a potential buyer then they will want to view, again it is essential that you have a plan for a viewing (even if it going to be conducted by your estate agent). Plan the route, dress the house to emphasise its strengths, write a list of key features and important points and allow the potential buyers time. The first viewing is all about impressions, specific details will be sought later in the process.

I will write more on this later.

House Sale progressing

25/09/19 20:45
Wow, what a month we've had!
We have a firm offer on our house at a price that will work for our future plans.

Fantastic BUT that means we have to get a real move on in actually downsizing our stuff and finding somewhere to live our dream.


Ok…… All Engines………Full Ahead!!!!
One in four/five house sales fail, so what can we do to minimise the chance of failure. Fortunately our Daughter and Son in law have kindly offered somewhere dry and warm so that we can break the chain and reduce the risk to the sale. Despite this safety net, we are still finding the whole process very stressful with load of unanswered questions. Clearly an important step in the process will be to organise storage for our stuff, whilst at the same time taking the stuff we need to our daughters house.


Gradually getting there

07/06/19 13:22
We have had a busy few days and I have been unable to take time off to put my fingertips to the keyboard.

Our major success over the last three days has been to massively cull our overflowing wardrobes. I don't know about you, but i definitely had clothes hanging in my wardrobe that didn't fit me, didn't go with anything else at all or frankly were never worn because I simply didn't like them. There were also a large number of unworn garment that I simply had forgotten that I owned and therefore never reached for them.

I completely emptied all my clothes onto the bed, and to be honest there were so many that some overspilt onto the floor.

I then tried each item on one at a time. I have put on a lot of weight over the last couple of years and many simply didn't fit. The best of these we bagged to take to the charity shop and worn out clothes were bagged ready for ragging at the local recycling centre. I estimate that this process reduced my clothing mountain by about two thirds.

I then spent time looking at each garment that fitted; did it suit me?, does it work with my other clothes? and not least will I actually reach for it when I'm getting dressed? If any of the questions was answered 'no' then into the charity bag it went.

My, now much refined, selection of clothes easily fits in my wardrobe and drawers. Hooray

Dog Training


Dot, our 10 week old Border Collie puppy, has now had her second vaccination and will be able to go for short walks within the next fortnight. She is an absolute bundle of energy and we are already having to work hard at keeping up. Our focus is house training her and teaching her which items are chewable and which are not. Anything above this will be a surprise bonus.

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Adorable though she is, laying the groundwork of basic rules and defining her position within the pack is essential at this early stage. Failure to set boundaries will lead to a dog that is forever in trouble and cannot easily understand why. This confusion can stress the dog and make it unhappy.
We are really looking forward to seeing Dot enjoying rockpooling and the beach when we go to our cottage in Robin Hood's Bay in the next few weeks.

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Decluttering Takes Longer than Anticipated

04/06/19 09:42
Now that I think about it, de-cluttering was always going to take time. After all it has taken twenty one years to get this bad so reversing the process is not going to be completed in a weekend!

On a positive note our basic plan is workable and only requiring tiny modifications.

It is easier to work as a team

The psychology of this statement is based on the simple fact that it is easier to identify items to go when you have no emotional attachment to them. this observation is why all U-tube declutterrers can quickly scoot through a room removing loads of items whilst the somewhat dazzled owners are unable to explain why they keep the items, due to vague emotional ties, in front of a camera. Working as a team means that there is a higher chance that one of you will not be emotionally invested in an item and can make a detached judgment on that items future.

Honesty is the key


If you've always hated it but her mother bought it for her, you may have to be tactful but always be truthful. Keep items that you can't agree on and move on, do not play power games after all you are both going to have to give things up. Keeping items you can't agree on, avoids conflict and once the seed is sown it may lead the recipient to realise that they can live without the item after all.

The New Plan


1. Work together one room at a time.
2. Identify Items that you both agree can go. Seek easy wins to begin with.
3. For each item decide Sell, Give Away, Recycle, Rubbish.
4. Action the decision. Put the item for sale, put in charity box, sort into recycling boxes, or bag up ready to take to the tip.
5. Move onto the next item

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Downsizing means De-Cluttering

01/06/19 14:16
To be frank, getting rid of clutter is harder than it sounds. Every item we own appears to have a sentimental attachment that needs to be considered.

A quick internet search reveals a host of blogs and websites devoted to decluttering techniques, the processes they describe range from common sense to full blown obsessive lunacy.

It is clear to us that the actual task of disposing of stuff we no longer use or need is one of our issues. Things that we don't want but still work or are in good condition fill cupboards and storage spaces of our house,

They are too good to throw away!



The Plan


Set up a disposal system
  • Items for the recycling centre need sorting into boxes matching our centres set up, i.e.Metal, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), Batteries, Glass, Plastic, Wood and Finally Landfill (hopefully the smallest amount)
  • Stuff that could be sold through Gumtree, Shpock, Preloved or Ebay
  • Stuff that can be given either to charity or through websites like FreelyWheely or Freeloved
Work through each room one at a time and decide keep or dispose and if dispose which of the above options to use.

Easy in theory……. Lets Do It!

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So what do we do now?

31/05/19 10:17
We have just returned from a walking holiday on the sleepy and tranquil island of Gozo. This small island lies north of Malta in the Mediterranean between Sicily and Tunisia.

As we walked and took in the beautiful scenery we had time to talk and share our common goals. It is perhaps unsurprising that we found much in common; we share a love of travel, a love of good food and wine, we take pleasure in country walks with our dog and we both find the process of crafting ceramic objects endlessly fascinating. I love photography and have always been interested in Bee-keeping whereas M loves keeping Chickens and Gardening.

With all this in mind, we both agreed that we should focus on the Future, Family, Fun, Food and Fitness. A good start would be to downsize from our over large 5 bedroom house to something more suitable for the two of us and our new border collie puppy Dot.

Sell our House, buy a smaller house with space for a pottery and workshop In the North Yorkshire Moors National Park and then Live a Long, Healthy and Happy Life in our new home filling our days with Long walks, Gardening, Cooking, Beekeeping and Pottery.


Easy! so to sell our house all we need to do is to declutter by sorting through all the stuff that two sentimental hoarders have collected over the last 21 years and then call an estate agent. How hard can that be?

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