Home forever

Oooops, where did the last month go??!

Can't believe it's a month since my last update - but to be fair it's been a busy one.

So, we are safely moved in to our new house, and while there's been lots of hard work with much more to come, we finally have our own home and we love it!

Today Dart and I are home alone for the first time in a long while as Andy has gone off to start his exciting new job with Kings Service Centre. Very proud of him and hoping he's having a good day - it's always a bit nervy starting a new job (I should know, I've started about a million....;)

And I say home alone, we haven't been really as Richard came round this morning to run a new aerial point in to our lounge, and this afternoon Matt from Duchy is here taking on the less than pleasant task of cleaning the Aga. As I'm an Aga virgin, I thought it would be a nice treat to have it professionally cleaned before I start learning how to use it - the previous owners didn't leave it clean and there's something extra grim about other peoples dirt.

Before and after - money well spent!

Anyway, the move itself went really well this time, no ridiculous weather, abandoned removal trucks and stranded removal men! In fact Smiler, Kev and John from Smilers Deliveries were absolutely superb. They worked with real care and consideration for us and our possessions and we all managed to have a laugh despite a very long, tiring day. Couldn't recommend these boys highly enough, total stars, and very reasonably priced too. Also pleased to recommend the letting agency that looked after us while we were at Lower Halstock. Anne-Marie at Pure Lettings has fully restored our faith in the industry (after our horrible experience with the rotten landlord and lipstick letting agents in Berkhamsted) This time our mutual business was concluded happily with us buying Anne-Marie a bottle of wine and her thanking us for being great tenants and leaving the property in an immaculate condition - full deposit was returned immediately too with no debate.

Unfortunately, while tenants are contracted to leave properties clean and fully vacated, it's not the same deal when you buy a house...... The people we bought from, who at face value seemed pretty nice, will be known forthwith as Stinky & Maggot due to the rubbish and grime they left behind, not to mention their poor attitude to basic DIY and maintenance. Some real winners included leaving their manky underlay and grip rods in the lounge (which meant we couldn't use that room when we moved in) a knackered fridge freezer and, randomly, a huge and somewhat decrepit triple wardrobe in our utility room! Not to mention masses of rubbish left around such as broken suitcases, garden furniture, kettle, toaster - a real winner was their dirtbag toilet brushes in all the loos. Grim. AND they took virtually every fixture and fitting, which I appreciate is their right, but most of our walls sport numerous blobs of badly filled filler.

Anyway, we're working through things! The underlay is gone and we spent the weekend sanding and re-varnishing the decent floorboards we were chuffed to find underneath. Andy has heroically fixed a leaky sink and a loo and built a new wardrobe, bed and bedside cabinets amongst MANY other jobs.

Before, during and after - hard work but worth it!

We've met all the neighbours, Dairy farmers Paul and Tracy 'next door' are really friendly. Dart seems to love his new home with lots of space inside and out to run around, and we're having fun discovering new walks to enjoy together.

We've allowed ourselves a little downtime while Andy has been off too, and trips to Polzeath beach and Daymer Bay were very welcome. Dart just LOVES running around on the beach bless him!

We enjoyed a great day up in North Devon at Westward Ho! with our gorgeous family Nick, Tracy, Jess & Duncan and Georgie & Harley. Thanks lovelies for sharing these super pictures!

Local pubs have also been investigated with the St Maybyn Inn and the Old Inn in St Breward proving hits - the latter does a superb Sunday carvery which we stuffed ourselves with yesterday - yum!

Only one trip to the cinema so far - but the Regal in Wadebridge is a delight! I so love vintage cinemas. I also loved the film we saw, A Star is Born. Very interesting debate with friends on facebook afterwards and now I need to see all the earlier versions too - I'm told the 1976 version is particularly fine......

And we've made the most of our fabulous new asset, an awesome hot tub!! Just what the doctor ordered after a day working on the house :)

We're looking forward to welcoming our first visitors later this week. Mum and Dad are coming to stay and will be the first to try out the spare room with new bed & curtains all ready and waiting for them.

Thanks so much to everyone that has been in touch with cards, gifts and good wishes - they are all so very appreciated! We miss old friends and family as we settle in to Cornish life - so come and see us, we'd love to show you our new home & share a glass of something to celebrate!