Viewings 2, 3 and 4

After a lovely few hours at the Butterfly house where we watched a display of Birds of prey including a Kookaburra, which although not a bird of prey as such, it's an Australian kingfisher, it was such a cute little bird and actually eats mice and lizards rather than fish, I left my friends and headed off to view a quirky cottage in the country.

Having spent several months living in the middle of nowhere I was keen to try and have some green spaces around us, so thought a quirky cottage would fit the bill. I had high hopes.

I found the village very easily and even found the road the cottage was on, but I couldn't find the cottage. The house numbers seemed to be very erratic, not sequential at all. I was looking for Bramble Cottage, No. 8. I could find number 6, 7 and 9 - but no number 8.

As I was lurking around someone came out of number 9 and asked what I was looking for. I told her I was looking for Bramble Cottage and she pointed further down the road, on the other side.

So, I set off and far from approaching a peaceful, rural property I was heading towards a large road junction, with no parking all over the place and a pub on the corner. If it was down here it was already not ticking any box on our list.

I walked to the road junction by which time I had run out of the road I was looking for, so turned around and walked back to the pub when I noticed some buildings at the back of the pub. As I walked up the back and turned the corner I recognised the cottage from the photo on the internet. I was in the right place - but it was not a place I wanted to be in. Such a disappointment BUT I knew the guy had travelled quite a way to show me round the house so I did the decent thing and went ahead with the viewing.

The cottage was accessed from a narrow path, I'm kidding myself, it was an alley at the side of the pub! Our furniture would struggle to get from the road, up the alley and in the front door - and it would all have to be carried 400m because that was the nearest you would get the vehicle to the door. So far,there was nothing going for this cottage at all.

And it went downhill from there. The photos definitely DID do it justice, it was tiny, it was tired, it was a real shame. Yes, it was quirky, it had rooms on about 7 different levels, cupboards in all sorts of wierd places and rooms that were half decorated.When I asked about parking for the cars as the brochure had said it had parking for 2 cars, 'Yes', he replied, 'we have 2 spaces allocated in the pub carpark'.

No Thank You Very Much - I was out of there as quick as politeness would allow.

So, house with small kitchen was still a streets ahead winner with only 2 left to see - by now I was beginning to feel that if you aren't on the net at the moment a property is put on for rental, you've missed it. Definitely, all the good ones had gone.

Property 3 was actually not bad, except it was in the middle of a housing estate, hemmed in with houses front, back and both side and the shortest front garden I've ever seen so it felt as if the door opened straight onto the road. It was a shame as the rear garden was perfect for the dogs, so long and lots of large bushes and trees for them to inspect.

So everything hinged on property no. 4 - my last viewing scheduled.

I remembered seeing it on the internet and thinking, it's too big - there are only 2 of us, but as choice was running out, it had sneaked into our list to look at. It was the farthest from Sheffield but was very close to 4 good golf course, maybe that was why Neil had pushed me to view it. I'd rung ahead to make sure the dogs would be OK and so I headed towards the town centre. Having expected a rural location for the cottage I was certain that one on the edge of a town would not fill our wish of some greenery but, as I drove up to it, I was pleasantly surprised. The house was on the edge of a housing estate, not overlooked at the front and across the road - open fields and allotments hidden behind a large hedge. Ok, this was looking better.

As soon as I walked in I could visualise us living here. The rooms were in the right place, the kitchen/diner was large and there was even a large cooker similar to the one we had in Spain. The garden was a good size for the dogs and all enclosed - so what if there are 4 rooms and a conservatory we have no use for! Because we are farther from Sheffield it was almost the same price as the 3 bed house I'd seen that morning. Finally, I felt I could tell Neil I had found a house that wasn't a compromise.

Then the clincher - 100 yards up the road, is the Rugby club beyond which is the canal, with lots of lovely dog walking along the canal banks, safe from traffic and as far as you want to walk. 15 minutes walk in one direction brings you to a pub where you can have a short coffee break, half an hour in the other direction brings you to the centre of town and a Costa Coffee shop you can sit outside. This was definitely ticking more boxes for me than were on my list. I could visualise a leisurely walk along the canal with the pups on a sunny morning, a large cappucino and Blueberry muffin while the dogs rested at my feet before heading back.

Mmmmmmh, somehow we had saved the best 'till last.

I could go back to Spain knowing we had a nice place to move to. That's when I knew for sure we would be moving back.

Now all I had to do was make it happen.