We have been accused of showing far too many things to do around here and not things we are doing! (you know who you are). So while we are waiting for builders to take down our gable wall we have been trying to get the house draught proof etc. The sash windows have seen better days!

Click on this link for those anoraks that like chop saws and similar hard core building stuff!

One of our main reasons for our “change in lifestyle” (I’ve already been told I’m too old for a mid-life crisis), is to enjoy time together. So last weekend we headed to the coast, which really is close and went to the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs. All the birds were still nesting and we managed to get a couple of good pictures of Gannets

and even some Puffins.

We always knew the commute for Jackie would be tough, here is the Monday congestion she had to battle with today!

It’s really weird Jackie didn’t want to tempt fate, but the first time we drove up to look at the house at  Appleton le Moors she felt at home. She didn’t say anything to me at the time, but the odd thing was that I was thinking the same thing. We are now officially villiage idiots as we know nothing about the village.

One of the reasons we really like the area around Appleton le Moors is the amount of things to do both for us and for our guests when we open. We recently went to the Malton food fair which was just brilliant. We had the last two battered oysters from the Greedy Bassets stand which were to die for!

There was something for everyone….perhaps you should visit next year Bob!

After lots of finger crossing and nail chewing we exchanged contracts last week, we even have a moving in date….Thursday 6th June. After all the anticipation we just can’t wait to get going.

We both love cooking and one of the downsides of the village is that it doesn’t have gas. So we have in a moment of mad impulse splashed out a lot of money on a Falcon induction range cooker! Ah joy a new toy.

Looks like we are getting close, our offer has been accepted so we can now reveal where we are headed…

Our little project is Town End Farm in Appleton le moors. This is a beautiful village in the south of the North York Moors National Park, with a pub in the village about 2 minutes walk away and countryside walks right from the front door. There is a google map of the area on the contact us page.

When we first started our search we quickly decided that properties in the National Parks were likely to cause too many problems and the planners would probably not allow us to set the property up in a way that would make it financially viable. Similarly we felt that Grade II listed buildings were likely to be a no no and conservation areas were also likely to give us  headaches.

So the property that is now No1 on our list is a Grade II listed Georgian farm house with listed out buildings, that is in a National Park and in a conservation area!

We decided that due to the nature of the property (yes that falling down barn from the last post is part of it). we would have a full engineering survey carried out. We are still waiting to find out if we can afford to renovate the buildings, but it would seem that the falling down barn is the least of our worries and part of the house and some previously converted barns may be the main financial problems.

The survey and estimated costs are due back at the end of the week, but we are starting to think this particular project might be like the Tom Hanks film The Moneypit!

We are taking our next steps, the survey on our house was carried out a couple of weeks ago. Boy were they thorough, like a “Compex” going to the USA, you could almost hear the rubber gloves snapping on! It was built in 1904 so they are bound to find something, but we are treating no news as good news.

We have looked at several properties and believe “the one” is out there. It seems there are compromises with all of them and it’s a matter of making sure we make the right decision. We don’t want to tempt fate so we won’t say exactly which are on our shortlist until we have had an offer accepted.

Could this be it?

Having decided to completely change our lives we have taken the first big step to setting up our holiday rental business….we have decided to sell our house to raise the capital we need to start our business.

The amazing news is that we have had 2 asking price offers within a week! We know that it could all go Pete Tong, but currently we are exactly where we need to be. If all goes ahead the next step is find our dream property, at the right price (not much to ask)!