‘Geographically, the shift isn’t huge – but the lifestyle change has been enormous’
‘My partner James and I talked about making the move for a couple of years before we did it. We’d been living in my house in the centre of Chichester, but he had always wanted to move back to his old family home out in the West Sussex countryside. I’ve lived in the city, within easy reach of shops and cafés, my entire life, so I was reticent, but in the end I decided I’d give it a try. It would be a new adventure we’d embark on together. We stayed at mine while James did it up and extended the house and got planning permission to build something smaller for us to eventually move into in the two-acre garden.
“As it’s his old family home, he knows people locally and has family nearby. When the build was finished (before lockdown), we held a party for all the neighbours, so I could meet them. They all seemed really nice, but I haven’t seen a single one since we moved in last August. Partly that’s lockdown, of course, but also it’s the self-sufficient country lifestyle.
“Even though I’ve always worked from home and am comfortable being alone, I’m also used to being able to hear ‘life’ close by. In Chichester I couldn’t nip out to the bins without bumping into someone. Here, I can go days without seeing anyone but James.
“The truth is I do feel lonely and a bit creeped-out by the isolation, especially at night. (I’ve been known to leave the lights on all night.) There’s a big difference between the myth of the countryside idyll and the reality – especially if you don’t live in a community. We aren’t in a village – there are other houses nearby, but each one has a large amount of land and everyone is self-sufficient, keeping
‘I’m used to being able to hear “life” close by… now I can go days without seeing anyone’
themselves to themselves. And we’re on a main road, so it’s not as if you can meander down a country lane. Industrial traffic passes reasonably frequently and there are no pavements. The nearest shop is a long bike ride away. That’s not a problem for James, he’s used to jumping in the car to go and get whatever he wants, but I’m used to being able to step outside my front door.
“Geographically, the shift isn’t huge – but the lifestyle change has been enormous. With the benefit of hindsight, if we’d made a decision to move from city centre to countryside we would have had a wishlist of things we were looking for – personally speaking, that might have been a house that was situated in a village or community – but as this was James’s old family home, that didn’t apply.
“All that said, we have a fabulous house with lots of space – indoors and out – and I love being so close to nature and having such gorgeous scenery on my doorstep. I’m really looking forward to the summer when we’ll really feel the benefit of living in the country.”