Thursday, July 07, 2005

We're Back - and safe!

Hi all!

We're starting to get phone calls and e-mails about whether we're safe after the troubles in London. The answer is YES!!!!!

We got back from the UK very late on Monday night and are still trying to catch our collective breath and recover from jet-lag.

It was a really successful trip. We've "sold" the house and "bought" another. All this is subject to contract, so we're not celebrating just yet. However, if all goes according to plan we'll be leaving here in mid-August and moving into our new home the 1st of September.

I had hoped to have pictures of the new house, but unfortunately it has been removed from the realtor's web site already. Anyway, it's a 4 bedroomed "chalet" bungalow (a sort of Cape Cod, I think). It has a large and absolutely beautiful garden complete with a little stream. It's about 6 minutes walk from the shops, pubs, restaurants in Church Stretton and about 2 minutes walk from the Carding Mill Valley which is a National Trust property which leads up onto the uplands of the Long Mynd.

The latter is a long range of hills complete with winberries (blueberries), heather, gorse and lots of sheep. The Mynd is criss-crossed by footpaths and bridleways and is breathtakingly beautiful. The whole area centered on Church Stretton is called the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and most of the town itself has been declared a conservation area, so there are limits on how much more development can be done there and constraints on building design, use of space, etc.