Back home from house hunting (133)

Well, we've done it - we've bought a house! Well, we've put an offer in and been accepted, so that's nearly the same thing, as long as the business side of things goes without too many hitches.

After a rotten week two weeks ago (stomach bug, the funeral and to top it all off I got a cold) we finally set off for Wells last Tuesday. We left Reigate in bright sunshine, but about 5 degrees F. Half way there we hit a tremendous rain storm, which then turned into hail and sleet, which was settling on the hills. We later heard that a village in Devon had had a really freaky hailstorm which left them with 4 foot high hailstorm drifts! The weather this week has been sooo cold - bright sunshine but a bitter wind; hats, gloves, scarves and big coat weather.

From New Album 02/11/2008 06:55

We stayed in a 15th century hotel in Wells, the White Hart. Our room was built into what was originally the stable block. On the first afternoon we tramped round estate agents, confirming appointments and making several more.

We viewed 14 houses in three days! Exhausting, and it was beginning to get a bit disheartening, as nothing appealed. And then the very last two were lovely. One especially was absolutely perfect, it really appealed to me. There's hardly anything I don't like about it. It's in a quiet country road in a small village about 6 miles from Wells. I'm not going to say much more about it, because you never know what might go wrong and we might not get it, but if we do I can show pictures once we move. So we stayed an extra night so that we could make a second visit, and put an offer in, which was accepted. So, great jubilation and joy. I'm really excited, and a bit daunted too.

We had an hour in Wells on Saturday morning before we left, to trot round the market and for me to take just a few pictures.

From New Album 02/11/2008 06:55

 This is a view of the market, which is held in the original market square right in front of the Bishop's Palace, you can see the gateway in the background. It's still the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells (any Blackadder fans out there?) It's a terrific market, a real farmers' market with lots of locally produced food. We bought some proper cheddar cheese (made in Cheddar, just a few miles away) and some jerusalem artichokes, for soup.

From New Album 02/11/2008 06:55

This is a better view of the entrance to the Bishop's Palace. It dates from about 1240.

From New Album 02/11/2008 06:55

This is a rather poor photograph of  Wells Cathedral. The sun was shining on the camera screen and I couldn't see what I was doing. It's a magnificent cathedral and I'll show you some better pictures next time we visit.

From New Album 02/11/2008 06:55

From New Album 02/11/2008 06:55

One of the features in Wells that I've never seen anywhere else are it's wide, purpose built gutters, which round down both sides of the main streets. Wells gets its name from three wells which are right in the city centre, and these gutters help excess water to drain away, rather than flooding. This year they were running full, after all the rain we've had.

So, now, it's back home to lots of work going through the process of moving and keeping our fingers crossed that it all works. You never know, we could be in our new home before Christmas. How weird does that sound.