When we originally travelled down to view our short-list we stayed overnight in a lovely B&B called Canaston Oaks, run by the delightful Eleanor and David. It seemed only fitting that when we went down to collect the keys to Pinewood we would stay with them again. We had an evening trip out to Narberth, with a meal in Diablo's, and a stroll around the little town, with its restaurants & independent shops. A comfortable night, and then a great breakfast and a chat with Eleanor about our new place. It seemed a shame that we wouldn't be staying at Canaston Oaks again, but now that we have a place of our own...
The first steps into Pinewood were a huge disappointment.
No furniture, no pictures on the walls, no atmosphere. Marie had already said that she thought the place became 'soulless' when she moved all her stuff out and she was right. But in a relatively short space of time we'd unloaded the car and started to put a few bits and pieces into the kitchen, and it started to take on a new 'soul'. Pam & Nick arrived shortly after, followed by the IKEA delivery men. Then it was an afternoon of bed-building and chair-assembling.
We sat in the armchairs and watched the woodpecker, nuthatch, great-tits and a tailless squirrel eat the seed and nuts down by the pond. We wandered around the house and the garden, just taking it all in.And of course, we made some Margheritas, just to get back in the mood that we'd been in when we first had the crazy idea to buy somewhere.
There is a small chance that some people my read this blog. There is an even smaller chance that some of them may be in the legal profession. However, I am not going to offer any opinions about the conveyancing processes. Let me just say that I can understand why people say moving house is so stressful - and ours was about the simplest transaction you could get.This Friday, ten weeks after our first viewing, we will get the keys to Pinewood. With luck we will spend our first four days building Ikea furniture, sorting out utilities, and getting quotes for refurbishment work, hopefully leaving some time for some celebratory visits to local pubs & restaurants, walks on the beach, and trips to nearby Tenby. For the journey down the car will be laden with all manner of domestic items, and the list of other things we'll need grows by the day. We're effectively replicating our existing home from scratch, which is both enormous fun and daunting at the same time. The excitement hasn't disappeared, though it waned a little when the legal processes dragged on. In fact, it was the anticipation of Pinewood fulfilling those dreams we'd had in Mexico which kept us as lighthearted and relaxed as we were during the last 2 months of the purchase. That is the purpose of the place, after all: to help keep us relaxed and calm and to give us a focus outside of normal life. And it won't be just Alexis & me that get the boost from the Saundersfoot vibe: James & Grace will no doubt enjoy the freedom and options for chilling out; Mum & Dad, likewise, and Martin, and Pam & Nick. Then there is the myriad close friends that we hope will either join us there for long weekends or take advantage of a free week to go end enjoy the atmosphere for themselves.For now, I'm just focused on trying to get everything in the car for the journey down, and looking forward to the start of the next phase of the Pinewood experience.
Candidate number two was a bungalow. I know -- it is hard to overcome the immediate vision of beige everywhere with the smell of cabbage and old copies of Radio Times. Not so here. There was a feeling of 'rightness' about this place. We saw four other properties later that morning, but nothing could touch this bungalow's combination of funkiness and serenity.
After all the visits were done, we sat in the Mulberry restaurant down by the seafront, eating our lunch, but not thinking about anything other than this house. We made a good attempt to be logical, writing lists to see which one was the most sensible option out of all six. But still it came back to this bungalow. Then Alexis said, "Let's make an offer." I was momentarily stunned, shouldn't we think about it for a few weeks? But then the Mexico Effect took over. We planned the phone call (we'd learned something from watching so many episodes of 'Location, Location, Location', so the crap TV did have some value after all), and then Alexis did the talking (because she'd once been on a negotiation skills course... don't ask). The call back, the revised offer, then 30 minutes later, sat in the car overlooking the sea with the rain falling steadily, we had our memorable moment. Offer accepted.
Blimey, that was a weird feeling. We'd only been in Saundersfoot 18 hours, only back in the UK two weeks!
We started the journey back up to Cheshire, with no radio and very little conversation. There wasn't a problem, we were both just quietly considering what had just happened. Then we got more and more animated and more excited with the realisation of what we'd actually done, accompanied by slightly hysterical laughter. Then we had another hour of worry over whether it was the right decision - heads vs hearts and all that. By the time we got home, we were totally convinced, but very tired from the mental and emotional highs.
Now, when ladies fall pregnant there is an unwritten rule that says you don't tell anyone about it until you've reached 12 weeks (other than the Father of the child, if known, and your Mum). I have the same sense of nervousness writing this, though it's nothing to do with babies. So far, we have a lot of items ticked off the house purchasing list, but there are still searches and contracts to be done. There are rumours of an issue with access or maintenance of a shared road. We will face these problems as they arise. For now, it's a case of regular day-dreaming about long weekends in our escape by the sea...
It doesn't have a number - it's just called 'Pinewood'.
My last two blogs were short-term, intensive blasts of scribbling; one related to my Islay whisky experience and the other to the phenomenal Christmas in Mexico. This time, however, my focus is a longer term project, code-named 'Pinewood'.
Avid readers of the blog 'Mexico Christmas' may recall a Margherita-fuelled discussion between me and Alexis, over our extended lunch in Daiquiri Dick's, near the beach one wet Monday afternoon (December 30th 2013 to be precise). The topics, wide-ranging and on occasions rather off-beat, included a wild idea to buy a holiday home for us to escape to. There's one place in the UK that has captured top-spot as an ideal destination for us, and that is Saundersfoot in Southwest Wales.
So, ordinarily when these ideas were mooted we'd think about a plan; I'd decide it was too risky; I'd come up with all the reasons why it would end up being a bad idea, and then we'd drop it and revert to normal life. Then I'd moan that normal life had lost its sparkle, filled as it was with a list of 'jobs' and nights in from of the crappest of crap TV.
Mexico, however, had a somewhat transformative effect on me: I returned with a sense of devilment and freedom, determined to move on from my conservatism and my impressive ability to find the negatives in any scheme. This was a new me.
Before we'd even left Puerto Vallarta we set upon the iPads and scoured Rightmove. We found a small number of potential properties, with two stand-out candidates. We arranged with the agents for some viewings and on 17 January, less than two weeks after we got back from Mexico, we drove down to Saundersfoot to take a look.
Candidate number one was a 100 year-old semi-detached cottage. It would have made a wonderful holiday home when completed, but that might have been in 5 years time - it was simply too much to take on. Everywhere I looked there was work to be done. The only thing in the entire house that didn't require remedial work was the original tiled floor in the hall, which was fab, but not exactly a great basis for a complete restoration project.
It wasn't a great start...
