Another Adventure?

We're moving away from Suffolk. Perhaps we should have known that the change from the spectacular Ardnamurchan peninsula, with its rich wildlife, magnificent scenery and challenging lifestyle, to the controlled environment of an English seaside resort would have been too severe a culture shock. For all the happy times we've had here, we need something a little more interesting, a little more exciting; and we would like to go back to Scotland.

So we looked at houses along the northeast coast of Scotland while we were on holiday in Helmsdale in August. There were some very tempting properties, many of which, like this shepherd's cottage, were too remote for us at our advancing age so, because it is practically impossible to rent a house in the area, we bought a tiny, one bedroom, one living room stone-built cottage in Golspie, Sutherland, to use as a base to find something manageable and appropriate to our declining years.

I feel as excited as I did when we first decamped to Scotland, back in 1996, taking an eighteen-year old son and a seven-year old daughter to one of its most remote locations, a decision which we never regretted. We don't want to return to Ardnamurchan and it had to be somewhere a little closer to Inverness. Golspie is just over an hour away, along the A9, and it has a train station.

So we've sold the beach hut, the English bungalow in its neat little cul-de-sac is sold STC, and next week we set off to take possession of our new wee house. We shouldn't be doing this, not sensibly; but life would be a dull experience if one didn't, every now and then, do something a little adventurous.