As some of you may know, Siobhan and I had been planning to try to get planning permission to convert our barns at The Old Rectory into a couple of houses. Then we would have sold the barns with the benefit of their planning consent. Frustratingly this plan has been thwarted by the existence of a right of way that was reserved by the Crown when they sold the barns to one of our predecessors about twenty years ago. We had hoped to get round this somehow but it was not to be. Since the object of the plan was to raise some money, we needed to scratch our heads a bit to work out a Plan B.
This materialised as selling the entire property and moving somewhere smaller and locally. Therefore we have pursued this over the last month and now we are ready for our house to go on the market at the beginning of September. As you might expect we did have our reservations at first, but the more we thought about it the more it all seemed to be a sensible idea. One thing that features high on the list of considerations was the garden and the amount of time that this takes to keep it in good shape. While this used to be fun (sort of) it really has become a burden and not fun. Indeed the idea of having somewhere simpler to live and look after has become very attractive to us.
When we told the children they were all very supportive and understanding which was very helpful.
So, big changes ahead, but we feel happy that it will be for the long term good of us and all and that Siobhan and I will have more time to spend with the children rather than worrying about the pesky garden.
Now we hope that a buyer falls in love with our home nice and quickly and that we can find somewhere else to buy without a protracted delay.
Tom