location location location...

a few people have emailed me to ask if scott and i were the couple featured on the tv programme "location location location", and...we were...so i thought that i would write about the experience!

scott and i were living in london, or as they said on the show, "living the london high life" (that always made me laugh!) and loving it. both being self-employed, we had great lives with a lot of flexibility and made the most out of that! but we were each living in studio flats and were paying crazy money for what we had in reality. then we started to hear tales of greener pastures.

a few of scott's illustrator friends had moved to hastings from london and it seemed like it was starting to become a nice little community of interesting and creative people. when one of his friends got married, we came to hastings for the wedding and we were completely amazed at how much bang you got for your buck! in london, to rent my studio flat, 2 rooms and a shared bathroom that was down the hall, cost £585 a month. in hastings, that got you a 3 bed house with a garden! and it wasn't that far to london on the train. but best of all, it was by the sea. after a night of total hedonistic bliss at the reception, the view on walk over the west hill was breathtaking and in an instant, we were both sold. so we packed up and headed for hastings.

view from the west hill

we rented a lovely little house on the west hill and were keeping an eye out for a property to buy. i had my heart set on a victorian house with a lot of light and space for working, but it became apparent that there were a lot of people looking for the same type to property to buy within our price range and they were either getting snapped up or they were in need of a lot of tlc, which was beyond our budget. then, i found out i was pregnant and as we were slightly cramped in our little house, each needing a studio space for our work, it became a bit more desperate to find a place.

i was getting really discouraged. my life became totally immersed in the world of estate agents and property websites. i spent months trawling day after day hoping something would magically appear within our budget. prospects were really grim when all of a sudden, we found the place that made our hearts sing. it had that feeling, that warmth we were both looking for. and it was on the next street over from where we already were. we immediately put in an offer and began the buying process. but then... here's the cliff hanger...it all went to hell... stay tuned for part 2!