HELLO

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Emma and Pete

It has become apparent this year that Pete and I have outgrown our current house. When we bought it we were both 9-5ers, and all it had to do was house us. Now it’s a home office as well, and we’re desperately short on space and buried under clutter.

We also seem to have outgrown Oxfordshire. We find life here rather tedious, with its traditional views and lack of decent restaurants (and yes, I have been to Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons). Our ties here are gone. We are no longer employed in the area; friends have moved away.

And so we are contemplating moving, but only have vague ideas where to move to. We would like somewhere where the people are friendly and progressive, where we can afford a larger house with a bigger garden, and where there are cool things to see and do. But the main requirement is a decent broadband speed.

So far we have considered:

• Brighton. Home of everything alternative, but probably pricey and the wrong side of London really. And we went there once and didn’t love it.


• Cornwall. Home of the Eden Project, lots of fresh fish and some ferociously local people who don’t like incomers. But it’s beautiful, and the climate is lovely.


• Totnes. Home of the Transition Towns movement, so at the cutting edge of progressive. All kinds of cool things going on there, but we’ve never been.


• Bristol. We went there the other day and it was sunny. A gateway to the West, probably with decent connectivity.


• Dorset/ Somerset. My mum said Dorset (my parents lived in Bridport for a few years) is full of beardy wierdies with piercings, which sounds perfect. But go too far into the countryside and the broadband cables are made of string.


• Hampshire. The wild card on the list. Everything I know about Hampshire tells me it’s too close to the Home Counties and probably pricey. But we know some lovely, superfabulous people there who are involved in all the right things.


• Wales. Added after being suggested by inw. Wet, but lovely and friendly and who could resist the home of Dr Who?

Once we can hammer out a long list, we will take some trips out to see these places and try and get a feel for what they would be like to live in. But if you have any thoughts and ideas of where we could go, then let us know! Leave a comment or send an email.

Posted in Emma's blog by emma on Sat, Aug 15 2009

Last modified on Tue, Jan 10 2012