Where did that year go?!

It was exactly a year ago today that I found out my children had been accepted into a popular primary school in Winchester – we put in a late application so we half expected it not to happen.  From that moment on, our lives were turned upside down.  I was leaving behind an office I had built up over 20 years of blood, sweat and more often that not, tears, a great support network of other mums and too many friends to mention.  The children were leaving behind a lovely little school, some really good friends they’d known since nursery plus our pretty Victorian terrace which had been their childhood home.

Trying to find a suitable house to rent down here, along with renting our own home out and working was certainly testing at the best of times, despite the fact I grew up in Winchester and I was in the business so had far more knowledge of the process than most.  Thanks to a particularly persuasive estate agent who talked me into viewing a house a bit further out than we had originally wanted we found the perfect place and were moved in by mid August.  However it was not an easy journey.  I missed out on so many good houses purely because I was physically unable to view them in time, plus the first tenants for our London house fell through the day after I had put a sizeable deposit down on the Winchester house.  It took up so much of my time, time which I should have spent packing up the house and looking forward to an exciting new chapter of our lives….

It was when we went for our open morning at the new school and I spoke to over half a dozen new parents who were also relocating to Hampshire, and who had had very similar, if not worse experiences with their search that I decided I wanted to start a business helping people in similar situations.  My oldest friend who had moved back down 10 years previously put me in contact with Teresa, a fellow mum from her sons school.  She felt we would be perfect together – the rest as they say is history!

A year on and every day down here still feels like being on holiday for me.  The children have a freedom they have never experienced before and a less complicated life.  They enjoy simple pleasures like watching the Wacky Go-kart Races on Sunday in the local farmers field, spending most of the time rolling down the hill narrowly escaping cowpats and thistles!  They have settled quickly at the new school and made new friends.  We still see our old friends – London to Winchester is so quick and easy.  It was the best decision for all of us, and despite the initial stress of making the move, we have not looked back.