I Want to Move House

We picked the wrong time to try and move house. I lived by the sea until I left home at 17 to join the WRAF. Apart from a couple of years in Singapore, I haven’t managed to live near it since. My dream is to be always in walking distance of the ocean. And this desire is becoming urgent as I get older. I really want to end my days there.

Last May I got married for the second time, to my long-term partner. Hubby and I live in my house. We put it on the market in July. We went and looked at some houses in Poole. In a suburb to the west, we could afford to buy and hubby can commute back here to work quite painlessly. We spent two Sundays clearing out the loft and the garage.

But no-one wants to buy my house. I can’t understand it. A three bedroomed terrace set back from the road, it’s not a bad house. I keep it clean and make it ultra tidy for viewings. It’s close to good schools in an area that’s relatively peaceful.

At first they said it was because we had an antiquated heating system and they couldn’t face to hassle of replacing it. So we had a new system installed with radiators and a combi-boiler. Then we spent weeks filling in vents and plastering and painting to remove the evidence of the old system and make everything look good. We ended up with some clever additional cupboard space. Viewers are impressed, but by now the market has changed. Either they can’t get a mortgage or they can’t sell their own house.

We have run out of steam and given up on the small painting jobs still needed. I’m too busy writing and doing the day to day running of the household. Hubby is tired from his weeks of early morning contracts.

I’m trying to find the energy to do some work in the back garden. It’s not very big but we’re proud of that garden. When we moved here it was just rough grass sloping down from the back gate to the house, with a few paving stones around the door and a pathway running straight up the edge to the gate. The bottom left hand corner was a quagmire in the winter.

After living with it for a few years, we got it landscaped. Now it’s on two levels, with a large walled patio, a small lawn and flower beds two steps up, and a lovely curved pathway to the gate. I remember when it was finished. I had a party out there on 1^st September for all the neighbours, the workmen who had made it and a number of friends. We were still out there at midnight on that balmy evening. The left hand picture shows my pristine new garden. The one on the right is a year later.

I’ll actually be sorry to leave my pleasant house and garden, but the sea is calling. All I need is one buyer. Anyone looking for a new home in Gillingham, Dorset?