Butter on paws...

There is a belief that if one butters the paws of a cat when moving it to a new home, that it will not stray from it’s new abode as it is so busy licking the butter from it’s paws. Well, I managed to forget this little tip and it was some days after we were ensconced in our new home that Mr Pickles found himself daubed in best Anchor Butter.. much to his delight and bemusement as he had already tasted his new environs by escaping on day two of our move and legging it down the lane despite my calls and bribes with a box of cat munchies.

I am glad to say he returned and has not ventured further than the wall at the top of the garden to flirt outrageously with the pretty kitty next door.

So… we finally moved home.. despite the months of fearing it would never happen, we arrived at our new/old home on 22^nd June. The day was predictably stressful and made more so by a timely phone call from our solicitor to say that the monies for transfer could not go ahead due to Nat West bank having a monumental cock up in their system. As the last item had just been loaded onto the delivery van we were pretty determined to go ahead with the move… come what may and were lucky enough to have had the luxury of an empty house to move into with the blessings of the vendors. So, it was that we arrived at our pretty house and set up home as squatters for the weekend until Nat West managed to rectify the problem on the Monday morning. 

Waking up to this on our first day in the cottage we pinched ourselves believing that we were on holiday and it was all a rather surreal dream....

Three weeks into our new home and we feel not a crumb of regret or backward glance to our time in Bath. We miss our old friends and neighbours though they are only 10 minutes down the road we have also gained some lovely new friends and neighbours here as was testament  by the mass of cards and bottles of welcome wine that were given to us on our arrival. 

  

We have swapped the nocturnal sounds of sirens and nighttime revellers for the din of a screeching owl and the morning racket of Sparrows and church bells. A good trade off I think!

The terrace which is a wonderful sun trap.. or would be if the sun shone!

The toy collection is feeling very much at home already..

So here is a glimpse of  some of our Hobbit house.. as we have named it. It was built in the early 1700's and we feel we are very fortunate indeed to be it’s custodians for the next chapter in it’s life!