We both come from small towns and then lived life from university onwards in the now well known, thanks to a dead king and a football team, city of Leicester. Neither of us had ever lived in the country and so not only were we moving house, moving counties, relocating part of, or all of our own businesses, setting up a new business and taking on a property that needed renovating, but we were also going to have to adapt to a new way of life. So if you want any tips, here is what we learned when we moved from the city to the country.
Learn to accept life moves at a different pace.
This is now amazing, but was a shock at first when people don’t rush with a quote for some work, because life is more important that burning yourself out. If we get stressed, it is nice to look out the window at the sheep and think, hey let’s just take life less seriously and enjoy our surroundings.
There really are no mains.
So yes, Joanne now has a habit of collecting wood when she sees it to burn on the fire. Damian had to hunt out the number for the LPG gas company on the first morning here so we could have the gas tank filled up to be able to put the heating on and have hot water. Knowing our water comes from a spring though is pretty cool. We even have a borehole for a back up water supply.
Agas are actually easy to cook with
Lots of friends had told us cooking on an Aga was simple, but when you’ve never used one before, it is a bit daunting. Turns out, it is amazing and yes, actually really simple.
Making a home takes time
Decorating a place of this size is going to take time which is why we are not opening straight away. We could have put in the budget to get a whole team in to do it for us, but then that wasn’t the change of life we wanted. We wanted a project that we could learn from in terms of renovating and love every little corner that we spend our evenings painting. We wanted to create something ourselves that was about more than just bricks and mortar. We wanted a journey in to a new way of life. Making a home is also not just about the decoration. It is about meeting the community and learning about the amazing business entrepreneurs that have set up their own way of life here in Cautley and Sedbergh. It is about learning the best way to climb Cautley Spout, the highest waterfall in the UK. It is about exploring the local market towns such as Kirkby Lonsdale, or the most scenic route to Kendal. We have yet to do so much of this, but that is why we have given ourselves permission to take time to make this our home, so we can then make it your home from home.
Following your dream is emotional
They say everyone has a book inside them and we think this could be ours. Before we took on the decision to change our lives, we had an honest talk about what would we do if it failed, how would we deal with the unexpected things and how would we move on from any arguments, or the stressful parts of the journey. Well it has gone pretty much how we expected. Joanne cried on the first night in, because the realisation of the huge plan in front of us scared the pants off her. The dog was beside herself with glee at her new huge garden. Damian relished in the ‘manly’ duties of finding a wood chopper in the storage room. Ha ha.
Jokes aside, it has been exciting, challenging, confusing, hard work, moments of pinching ourselves that this is our home and generally full of all the emotions, but we wouldn’t change it for anything. It was our dream and still is and “Dreams don’t work unless you do.”
