Clairesallotment's Blog

We looked high, we looked low, we looked everywhere we went, but finally we found our home in the heart of the country! I know it’s been a while since we spoke last, but lots has been happening for us as a family and not much of that has been gardening related. You may remember me telling you we were moving, well it FINALLY happened!! We sold our property really quickly and also found our new home fairly quickly as well (all in November 2016). It was all going smoothly and wasn’t as stressful as many people had made it out to be. Then once all the survey’s started then all sorts of things came up. The main problem was, we didn’t know, that where we were living, apparently we didn’t own the bottom half of that garden?! Yes it was all a shock to us as well. We kept joking that our chickens were trespassing on council land. Once we discovered this (in February 2017) we were told that it was very simple to sort, and wouldn’t take long. What isn’t long to us, and what the council think of as not long are two different things. 5 months!! Yes you heard me correctly!! But finally it was sorted. We were very close to moving many times, but then something else came up. We wanted to move in the school Easter holidays, but that didn’t happen, June wasn’t good because of exams, so once they were out the way then we could set a date. We only had about 7 days to pack up the house, once the boxes had arrived. That’s really hard to do, especially when you have nowhere to put anything. It felt like our house was a cardboard box factory for that week. I just had to keep reminding myself that this was only going to be for a little while and soon they would all go. I don’t like clutter, lack of space and mess, it makes me stressed and cross. Mark took most of the week, running up to the move, off. So between us we packed up everything. When we moved in to that house in April 2001, Emily was 17 months old and George didn’t even exist. We hardly had anything. After 16 years and 2 and a half months, you accumulate lots of stuff. Our official moving day was Tuesday 11th July, but because we were moving such a distance the removals guys came on the Monday and packed up most of the boxes in their lorry, and just left us with the TV, the fridge and our mattresses. They were amazing and worked unbelievably hard. If you’re moving I would recommend them, Robinson’s Relocation. When they’d gone at the end of Monday, we went out to our local Superfish restaurant to have dinner. I wasn’t going to cook, well I couldn’t as they’d packed away my pots and pans! We then went to sleep in a very empty and echoey house. We woke in the morning and the guys arrived again to pack the rest of our belongings in their lorry. It was a huge lorry and we filled it right to the back. They had to stack some of my plant pots on top of each other so they could fit everything in. Just before we left we had an emotional last walk around the house. All of us got emotional in our own little way. George was born in the lounge (it was planned), so it’s the only home he’s every known. Emily has lived most of her life in that house, and it’s the home that Mark and I have also lived in for the longest. We said farewell to our neighbours, all who are brilliant and we love to pieces. The square were we lived was like a little community, everyone looked out for each other. The lorry left to travel the 75 miles to our new home. We handed our keys into the estate agents, got a sandwich and then started the drive down. As we were driving down, it occurred to us that we were actually homeless, which is a very weird feeling, and that all our possessions were in the back of a lorry. The lorry was limited to a certain speed, and we could go faster, so we didn’t have to hurry. The drive down was very uneventful, and the motorways were clear, all of them, even the M25? We did get stuck in a little bit of traffic, because there had been a small shunt between 3 cars, but it didn’t slow us down by much. Finally we arrived at the estate agents and picked up the keys, and then drove to our new home. We beat the removal company by just a couple of minutes. Then it was time to off load. It was getting quite late so they offloaded the essentials, like the mattresses and the TV and a box of food, and then left us to relax. Again we went out for dinner that evening to our local pub. Very tasty. After a slightly bizarre nights sleep in a new house with lots of strange sounds and no light pollution (when it’s dark, it’s dark), the removals men arrived the following day to off load everything else and put the boxes in the correct rooms. We’d numbered the boxes and the rooms, so they knew where everything needed to go. I made sure I had plenty of tea, coffee, cake, biscuits and fruit and anything else I could think of to keep them going. Once everything was off loaded we were again surrounded by boxes, but because our new home is bigger it didn’t seem as bad. Now we’ve been in for a little over a week, we’ve now unpacked most boxes, just about 6 left to unpack, so it now feels like home. We’re all settled in, and are getting used to our new surroundings. The garden is the next thing to conquer. I have a plan, and loads I want to do with it. But before I can get the chicken in their final place, and the greenhouses up and then my raised beds in and start to create my little paradise there are 10 cypress trees at the end of the garden that need to come out. They’re 10 foot deep and 8 meters tall!! The farmer opposite can do them, but he’s busy at the moment harvesting, so I may have to wait until he’s done. As soon as I start the garden, I’ll make a video, so you can join me. But here is the garden as it looks at the moment.