‘We have everything here – the sea, the woods and the mountains’

Diana Speed, 58

‘We lived in Aberdeen when our children were small, so we had history here, but when Grampian TV closed we moved down to London for work. We lived in Pinner, Middlesex, which was great for the kids, and I could easily commute to work at the BBC where I was a newsreader on Radio Four. But the truth is, my soul never really sang.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been so privileged; we’ve had wonderful jobs and the children have had incredible educations. But London can be a very angry city – people go from 0-80, with no room for nuance. And there’s a level of mediocrity that’s acceptable there that isn’t acceptable anywhere else in the UK – the heat, the dirt…

“That, combined with the menopause and the shift work that was integral to my job… it really wasn’t fun any more. And the hours! One day I’d be finishing a shift at 1am and three days later I’d be starting one at 3am. I started to get anxious about what I was doing to myself. I wouldn’t drive after an early shift because I felt I couldn’t trust my reactions.

“Then my husband, Ken – who is older than me – retired. He’s a Scot and had always wanted to come back to Scotland. So after my father died, I thought why not? I’m a free agent now.

“We came up to Aberdeen to have a hoolie with friends in January 2020 and that was when we decided to start looking. We looked around Edinburgh, Perth and Broughty Ferry, but in the end Aberdeen made the most sense. We have friends here, plus it’s got an airport, the sea, hills – you name it.

“The kids weren’t thrilled, but we thought if they won’t leave home, we’ll have to leave them! Our youngest son said, ‘You’ve sold the family home!’ While the older one didn’t understand why we couldn’t buy in Edinburgh, which is easier for them to reach by train. But we didn’t know anyone in Edinburgh.

“We saw this house in January last year but hadn’t sold our house in London, so weren’t in a position to buy it. Because the oil market collapsed, the house was still waiting for us in the summer. We moved in on December 10 and two months later

I left the BBC. We were lucky that the timing worked out, because the two conveyancing systems in Scotland and England are so different: we sold in London one day, stayed overnight in Edinburgh, then got the keys in Aberdeen the next day.

“We love it here. Above all, it’s the quality of life. Yes, there can be a cold wind, but we’ve woken up to sunshine and bright-blue skies most days. We have everything here – the sea, the woods, the mountains – there’s a good quality of life here.

“Life doesn’t end when you leave London.”