For the last five or six years, my wife and I have been looking for the right place to build a new home, into which we can downsize and retire. Our children have long since left home and now have places of their own, one in London and the other in rural Maine.
We’ve been to property auctions to bid for derelict places we can restore, looked at building plots but none felt right. We began to think we would never find somewhere we both liked and could afford.
We both grew up in a small Suffolk town where my wife’s family still live and so have been visiting ever since we married and moved away more than 40 years ago.
We had always said we would never return, but then I discovered a barn for sale behind the church there that had planning consent to convert into a home. It overlooked fields, stood in an acre of land, and yet was a 10-minute walk from the town centre so very convenient.
The moment we visited to view the barn, we knew that we had found our new home and the conversion work is now well underway. We sold what had been our family home for more than 25 years, and are renting a place close to where our new home is taking shape.
It’s a long time since we lived in a town, and to be able to pop out to a shop without having to drive has been surprisingly convenient.
We knew it would be nice to be back on the Suffolk coast. It’s a popular holiday area, with lots of cafes, restaurants, an arthouse cinema and Snape Maltings, a world class classical music venue developed by composer Benjamin Britten all nearby. Growing up here means we know where everything is, so can navigate without using a map.
But what has completely blown me away has been the strong sense that this place has always been my home. Only now do I realize that everywhere else we’ve lived has simply been a place to eat, sleep and work, but never a place where I can feel I belong.
Being part of a community we can call home is powerful and I can see that when we move into our new home this summer, life will be better than I could ever have imagined.