Where I'd like to live

For some strange reasons I've started to think more about where I'd like to live in the country in the time to come. I really love the flat we live in now and Oxford is nice enough but I don't feel committed there for life. It's handily a good distance to London and equidistant to our families - all close to two hours. I remember when it came to applying for teaching jobs that it was exciting that I could go anywhere in the country (although when it actually came down to it, the 'whole country' was a bit too much to be trawling through for job adverts!). 

I was walking down a village road during our month return, looking at the houses and got a thrill thinking 'I don't know what sort of house we'll end up living in'. It was a fun feeling of not knowing what's to come. 

Here I will write a little of my house of dreams - on the understanding that it may well be a long way from reality. I love our open plan kitchen and living area and would only maybe like to add a little reception room that could be a library. How nice it would be to have a book shelf lined room with a couple of cosy chairs in it - I love those snuggler swivel chairs. Maybe even that could be a TV snug. I'd also like to have a wall in a room somewhere covered in people photos and I'd also ideally like to have a shell themed/decorated room. 

We also had a bit of a realisation on the sort of town I would like to live in. It came as we were crawling through Oxford on the park and ride. It was in stark contrast to driving through the centre of Malvern the day before with not a hold up. I started do come up with a bit of a criteria and decided that small town is the ideal size. This is what it would ideally include:

- ability to drive through the centre at most times of day

- Easy parking - no multi-storey car park - I'm thinking that might be the sign of a too big town. 

- Shops where you can buy most things that you'd want on a weekly basis. They don't have to be big brand shops but I wouldn't like to be in a shopless village I've decided. 

- Train line would be handy.

- A theatre would be awesome! 

- I'd ideally like to be able to walk in to town on the odd occasion - half an hour or so would be fine. 

- Maybe a swimming pool. 

These are the places that I wondered might fit (not that we necessarily want to live in these parts of the country, just that they maybe fit these criteria): Malvern, Evesham, Melton Mowbray and oddly Didcot (but I just don't think I'd want to live there somehow - maybe I'll have to refine my criteria!). 

So there are my little musings. I don't know if any will actually come true, or even if in the end I'd want them to come true, but they are written there so I can look back on in years to come. 😀