May 24-End of May, 2018 - A New Home in Derbyshire

On May 24th, we rode the Tube to Victoria Station to pick up our rental car.  As we anticipated, beginning our "Driving on the left-hand side of the road adventure" in downtown London, with a stick shift was hair-raising; however, we survived.  The combination of driving on the left, extremely narrow and winding roads on which people drive quite fast (most backcountry roads have a 50mph speed limit), using a stick shift, and having to rely intensely on Google Maps has been interesting, to say the least.  It took at least a week to not have heart palpitations just thinking about going out to drive somewhere.  Now, about three weeks later, we are finally starting to understand multi-lane roundabouts and are getting far more used to English driving.  However, it is still stressful at times (We're not sure we will ever get used to whizzing past cars going 50mph on tiny, little roads that in the States wouldn't even be suitable for one-way traffic, or driving on "two-way" roads that are literally so narrow that vegetation is hitting both rear-view mirrors at the same time!).  These days, we only turn into lanes of oncoming traffic on rare occasions instead of with regularity.  So, that's good, right?! 😨

Despite the anxiety-provoking driving conditions, we absolutely love where we are staying!!!  We are living in the countryside near the town of Turnditch, which is about 10 miles (20+ minutes) northwest of Derby and about 140 miles (2 hours 45 minutes) northwest of London, just outside of the Peak District. Derby is the closest city, with a population of nearly 250,000.  It has all the amenities of a city (It even has a Costco!), but we are far enough outside of the city that we feel like we have stepped back in time to the setting of a Jane Austen book.  It is spectacularly beautiful and extremely peaceful!

We are living in a home we found on Airbnb, and we will be here until June 22nd.  We were unable to find one home to stay in for the whole time we are in England, so we will stay in two other houses before we return home, one for nine days and one for about a month and a half.  Apparently, the home we are in now was originally built in the 1600s.  The family that owns it live in the main part of the house, and we live in an addition on the back of the house.  The home is in the middle of gorgeous, green, rolling hills that are covered with sheep and quaint rock walls.  The picture below shows Hannah with the house in the background.  We live in the lower portion of the building that is perpendicular to the taller front part of the house.

On our way to the house the first day, we stopped at a grocery store.  We thought we would throw this picture in so that you could see that we are not completely in the middle of nowhere.

The owners occupy the yard behind the house, and reserve the side yard pictured below, for us.  It is wonderful, and quite the contrast to living in the hustle and bustle of downtown Rome for three months.  Our portion of the house is the lower-roofed section where the two little, upper windows are in the picture below.  Our kitchen, living room, bathroom, and laundry room are on the bottom floor, and there are two bedrooms upstairs. The yard is full of flowers and singing birds.

It is exceedingly quaint and cute...and old!!!  The ceilings are all quite low.  The doorways are almost exactly Mark's height, so he has to duck to not hit his head.  The beams are all original, from centuries gone by, but the house has been remodeled and is nice.  It is not fancy, by any means, but it is very comfortable.

There are plenty of animals around, which makes Heather and Hannah, in particular, quite happy.  There are two cats (Mr. Brown is pictured above and below, and Paddington is the one on sleeping on the couch below.), five chickens (Which Hannah named Miss Perriwinkle, Miss Lily, Mis Sniffles, Miss Snow,  and Miss Moody) and a flock of sheep on the property.

We especially like the yard ("garden") here, for reading/studying, eating, or just meditating.

There is a gate and a high fence that separates "our" yard from the owners' yard.  The owners are Lucy, an interior designer, Anthony, a land surveyor, and their two sons, Rubert (6) and Bob (3).  They are incredibly nice people, and we have loved getting to know them.  Hannah has thoroughly enjoyed playing with Rupert and Bob.  Mostly, we think it is just nice for her to have a reprieve from being alone, with two adults, 24/7.  Though Hannah has had an amazing experience, it has been hard on her to be away from her friends and cousins and to constantly hang out with adults who like to do "dumb stuff" all the time.  Having Rupert and Bob to play with has been fantastic and, of course, they love Hannah, and want to play with her any chance they can get!

Below are some pictures of the portion of the house where Lucy, Anthony, and their boys live.

Below are some pictures of their yard area.  It is quite beautiful, and they are constantly working on it to make it better.

We have felt very lucky to find this place and to be here in such a beautiful time of year. The peaceful surrounding countryside and pace of life, have been a much-needed rest from our months in the city.