Happy Anniversary
On this day, 18th January, back in 2018 we were embarking on a great change. We sold our house in the swamp and moved to the seaside. To be completely honest it was moving from one challenging landscape to another, but what is life without a little challenge. The last place was at that point where it was done. The interior was how we liked it. The garden was manageable and while it was productive and provided challenges with its frequently flooding, it had become a little same samey. So, it didn’t take much for Hubby the Un-Gardener to convince me to move. He had always wanted to live beside the sea and had found a great piece of land with some stunning seaside views. The only conditions were – I wanted a budget so I could have the same amount of garden as I had, and I wanted to be planting tomatoes in the spring.
So, we sold our house and moved everyone and everything to this empty 10-acre block of land on the wild west coast with all our hopes and dreams in our back pockets. We spent that first night and the following 99 living in a caravan. It wasn’t too bad an experience, but not one I want to repeat in a hurry. The lads were teens and we had at that time two goats, Fennel the Cat and a load of elderly chickens. We had power and access to water, but it took 40 days before the internet was set up. You could get a signal at the top of the hill and that is where you would often find the kids!
When we moved we brought our spa pool with us, and the electrician suggested he connect it up as the power trench was going in right beside where we wanted it to be. So here we were with little in the way of creature comforts, but we had a spa pool!
We were living in the caravan while we waited for the process of relocating a house to go through its motions. Initially when we found the land I thought this would be the ideal time to get my dream house. We searched for plans online and I found ‘the one’. But those plans never came with a price tag so with great excitement when phoned the company only to have our hopes dashed. The first thing we were told was ‘well, you’ll have to add $100K because of where you live…’ and then the nice lady proceeded to give us a price that was far greater than our hopes and dreams could stretch to. We almost gave up before we even started.
Our saving grace came when we stumbled across relocatable properties. The developer needed them gone so they could build infill housing. Some of these grand old buildings were just demolished with little salvaged for those who would have loved to recover a slice of history. Fortunately, others saw value in giving these homes a new lease on life somewhere else and would list them for a song. Somewhere free or even a dollar. Ours was more expensive at the princely sum of $29K. Seventeen townhouses were built in its place.
Choosing the house was interesting, because while it is growing in popularity as a way to have an affordable house, there aren’t that many to choose from. It took patience to find a place that we loved the look of, didn’t need too much work and importantly, came from the right side of the street. We wanted to orient the house, so the living areas overlooked the ocean, and those old houses generally had a pretty side, a boring side, a welcoming front and a functional back. If it came from the wrong side of the street we’d have the welcome front facing into a hill and the bedrooms would have had the best view.
It didn’t take long for the right house to come up and we ended up with a stucco Californian bungalow style with two bay windows with stained glass, a lovely entrance and from the right side of the street. If I could change one thing, it would be that it would be a tad bigger, but that would have driven up the price, but the smaller footprint means we don’t collect as much water from the roof, so we are always worried about our water security – especially in summer.
It was a pretty exciting journey, being prepared to give up everything to have something new – well new to us. But I guess we are those people, prepared to throw caution to the wind. There are no regrets – although don’t ask me about it on a windy day when it is howling a hoolie. This is our forever home, and we will enjoy thousands more sunsets straight into the ocean looking out of the bay windows of our front room.
Come again soon – life is good.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
Happy anniversary indeed. Way back in 1990, we moved an old schoolhouse in Nelson to a 16acre country block. It came in two parts. We had to tender for it, a nervewracking process! It cost us just over $5k.
This was waaay back before it became a popular thing to do, before Moving Houses was ever invented!
I’m lucky, a builder husband was able to do all that was needed to put it onto piles, join it back up, and in due course build an extension in keeping with the existing. A very good experience.
I wish you many, many more anniversaries, but beware the ‘forever’ home. We’ve had two of those 😆.
It takes a certain type of person to be brave enough to move a house! We may well have been crazy enough candidates for that TV show, but we were a few years too soon! We aren’t builders so had to gather a good team around us. I think the thought of going through it all over again makes this a guaranteed forever home! : o)
That is so awesome. It seems like it was not too long ago, though, when the house was new.
Time seems to go so quickly. It feels like just yesterday, but it also feels like ages ago. : o)
Happy Anniversary, Sarah. You continue to live an interesting life. I can hardly believe it’s been over six years since your move.
Thanks so much. Time goes so fast! We certainly end up doing things out of the ordinary, goodness knows why?! : o)
I bet those sunsets are magic! Life sure is good …
We have to try hard not to take the sunsets for granted. : o)