Home Again, Home Again

Well, my dears, after weeks of constant online looking, driving around the area checking out locales and looking at places, we have finally found a new house. It's about 15 or 20 minutes away from where we are now, so still easy driving distance from our friends here and our local. It's a little farther out than we were initially looking, but still in my GP's catchment area ... just barely.

Osbaston is listed in the Domesday Book, only has about 270 residents, no shops, no pubs, just heavenly nature and beauty. Tiny little road going into it - room for one car at a time. The house itself is the Chauffeur's Cottage on the grounds of Osbaston Hall, a 17th century hall that replaced the original built in Norman times.

Osbaston Lane

So, I first saw this place online almost two months ago. I loved the look of it, but it's only a two bedroom, and knowing how small rooms can be here, wasn't sure it would be big enough. Still, I made my sweetie drive by it on one of our locale-checking forays. It was really pretty and we were completely taken by the area, but again, feared it would be too small. We kept looking and actually made an offer on a place about two minutes from here last week. Wasn't accepted, thank goodness. Almost made an offer on a place in the village where our GP is earlier this week. Held off. Beautiful house, but something didn't feel right about it. And we drove back to the Chauffeur's Cottage. Couldn't get it out of our heads. I kept saying, "Let's look at this place. We have to see this place," but it's only two bedrooms, so we never booked a viewing.

Then, a few days ago, I found a farm house in a village a fair distance from here called Wykin. My sweetie and I loved the grounds and thought the house might work, so he called to book a viewing. Turned out that the estate agent handling that property also handles the Osbaston property, so my sweetie surprise me by booking a viewing of that as well.

The Chauffeur's Cottage - the house ends at the ivy

We walked in and loved it. Super high ceilings, really large rooms. We think it actually has more space than the house we're in. It has a two car garage and a small garden. We'd be allowed to walk the grounds of the estate as long as we respect the privacy of the owner and don't approach the hall itself. My sweetie could barely contain his excitement over it and I was pretty excited, too. But, we calmly got in the car and followed the estate agent to the Wykin house. The grounds were lovely, with a willow tree and lots of space for the Princess to run, but the house, spacious tho it was, simply didn't do it for us. We were both comparing it to the Chauffeur's Cottage. We actually drove back up there to look at it again and talked it over.

View from the Estate - the long bit on the back is another unit

As soon as we got home, we called and made an offer. The estate agent warned us that the owner is often out of the country, working in Asia, so it might take a day or so to hear back. Five minutes later, he called to say the offer had been accepted exactly as we'd made it. As soon as the papers are drawn up, we'll pay the deposit, at which point, we will be given the keys. Our tenancy doesn't begin until the end of May, but we're getting access a couple of weeks early so that we can clean, paint, put up weather stripping around the great gaps at the front door, and slowly move our smaller belongings over. We'll do the full move a few days before the end of May so that we can come back to Ratby and finish cleaning up this place and get it ready for the final inspection. Hopefully, we'll get our entire deposit back on it.

In the meantime, Mum and Bob arrive tomorrow (!!!!!), and we can just relax and visit with them. Patricia is already in the country, so we're looking forward to seeing her in Rye next week. On May 1, we're taking Mum and Bob to Wales for a couple of days. Other than that, we'll take it easy and show them the sights of Leicestershire.

The Chauffeur's Cottage - Hall behind it and original gates

The photos I've posted of the new place are from the ad and a website about the village, except the last one, which I took on March 24, the first time we saw the place. As soon as I have some of my own, I'll share them with you. What a wonderful thing to find a new home with my sweetheart!