Category: Ireland

It’s a busy time at the moment…and uncertain…but exciting!

Update on the move so far because we keep being asked. We sold our house subject to contract back in June, but have not yet exchanged, we have now sent the signed forms off so exchange of contracts can take place.

We are buying a cottage in Leitrim in Ireland (all being well) which needs a little work, but is liveable, which also has 3 acres of land with it. Our Irish solicitors are brilliant and are keeping us up to date well, they have asked the sellers a few questions and are currently waiting for answers. It is pretty certain we will be moving, we have paid the deposit and had an engineer’s report.

In order to buy a house in Ireland (it is Southern Ireland), we need PPS numbers, (personal public service numbers) and these should be coming either this week or next. An absolutely lovely lady rang me this week from Ireland just to check the details. She was very friendly and said she was originally from the area in which we are buying and seemed really pleased when I said we were moving there.

Another question we keep being asked is about work/jobs. The answer to that is, no, we don’t currently have jobs waiting there for us. We have subscribed to various sites which advertise jobs in the areas we would be fairly close to. To those who may worry because we haven’t got work waiting – don’t worry, we will be fine. Chris is an extremely hard worker, who will work hard at absolutely anything he does and has been in constant work for years and if necessary I would get part time work to subsidise us, but that will probably not be necessary. I do intend to be at home with the children as long as it is possible.

The last commonly asked question is schools – yes there are schools nearby, as far as I am aware there is a little village primary school about four miles away. It is also legal to home school in Ireland if it became necessary or we decided to do that. Unlike here, education is only compulsory from the age of six in Ireland, but apparently most children do go from the age of four/five.

We are really looking forward to moving but whilst we are still here we are trying to make the most of the time left. We have been going out as a family at weekends, talking together more, spending more quality time together really, making good use as far as possible of  our time here. We went to a place called Magna on Saturday. It was so good, J (our 3 year old) and Chris were absolutely enthralled and there is a really good playground there too, which we went to afterwards. It’s also good, because if you pay full price once, you can then get in for a year for free afterwards. We also belong to the National Trust so we have been making the most of being members, getting out to various places as a family.

I’ve also met an old friend today at a local playgroup at the Baptist Church Hall, it was great! There were also two ladies there who looked after my daughter when she went to the after school club maybe about 17 years ago and another fella called John who is part of the Baptist Church who may have taught her at school (I only realised this after he left, I never got a chance to ask him). It was a very friendly, relaxed group and we all enjoyed it. J doesn’t always like indoor groups but he seemed to quite enjoy this one.

Chris and I are also actually going out!!! tomorrow!!! It is our wedding anniversary so we are celebrating God’s goodness in our lives and each other. Five years! It doesn’t actually feel like five years, even though we have packed it full. I loved our wedding, it was a good, good day. God was in it completely and utterly. Thank you Lord Jesus.

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Been through and changed a few things…bring on Ireland.

So I’ve been through the “things to do before we leave Derbyshire list” and it seems a bit pointless as we do just want to move now. So I’ve changed it a little, updated it and just about everything is now ticked off.

The legal end in Ireland seems to be going well and we received details of the conditions of sale. The solicitor has raised a few queries and we are just waiting for these to be answered. Apparently our PPS number applications got to the right place on Wednesday so we are eagerly awaiting these!

We really just want to get there now and get living there, getting used to it, seeing what exactly needs doing on the cottage and land and organising it.  Starting our lives there, getting the place warmed up and dried out and generally having a massive change! So we are praying that the actual completion date of this house coincides with the one in Ireland so we can move straight there. “In God we trust!” (and keep trusting).

 

Getting ready now!

So today has been productive but stressful. (I have been really stressing). The piano was collected and moved today, this firm turned up and were great! Unlike the one the other day.., And the chickens have been rehomed, but only after the original person who said he wanted them didn’t turn up. Another man was very keen and seemed to know what he was doing and was experienced with chickens, so we have given them to him.

bye bye chickens! It has been a pleasure!

I’ve also been trying to sort books out. I’m a bit of a book hoarder, so I find it difficult to ‘release’ books. But I’ve been quite good (for me) and I also have a few that I need to read and then get rid of.

I just need to finish the Shetland series (which I’ve loved! And I’m on the last book now) then I’m moving onto these. The Shetland ones are on my kindle though, so don’t count as baggage.

Probably still need to re go through the remaining real books though….probably need to let go of a few more…

Not much news today but…

I still want to write so I am. There is a little news, our report on the house from the engineer will be coming on Monday for us to read. So that should be interesting reading…

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This house ↑↑ (in case you need reminding) (or haven’t read our blog before) In Ireland, even though originally it was the Orkney’s, then Shetland (our croft buy fell through). So it is quite different in some ways from the original plan, as it is about 1 1/2 hours away from the coast, whereas in Shetland, the croft was really close to the shore and in the Orkney’s you’re never far away from the sea. Still, an hour and a half isn’t that far.

It is rural and beautiful with nearby village schools and a bit of land but not too much for us (3.3 acres to be precise) as opposed to the masses of land there was with the croft, so I guess we will read the report on Monday and hopefully not have a nasty surprise. Having read a lot of home reports when we were house hunting in Scotland (they are available when you are looking, you don’t have to have one done) we think we know what to expect.

It’s been a funny old day. We’ve been out with the dog and got soaking wet, collected some “treasures” while we were out (hazel nuts, elderberries, acorns) it was fun actually! There were even some blackberries still out, but other than that we’ve been in and not really doing a lot. Chris’s new fpv goggles have arrived, so he is very happy!

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(he did give me permission to use this photo :D)

Autumn time!

I love autumn. We’ve been out today and there’s just a change in the air, a stillness, a coolness, and it is so beautiful.

I’ve just seen on facebook, someone has put that it is 15 weeks until Christmas (I haven’t checked) but 15 weeks?? I really hope we move before that! We could do with getting the place warmed up for a start..

So yesterday we sent off our applications for pps numbers (Personal Public Service number) and I’m hoping I enclosed everything I needed to identification wise and that we hear back soon. We heard from the estate agent and the details of the property have now been released to both solicitors (the sellers and ours) and we are just waiting to get the report from the surveyor. We still haven’t heard anything about our completion date yet, but I’m trusting God that it is his timing and that it is right.

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