I think we’ve found it…..!!

Let’s not get too hopeful but……

I think we might have found THE new bungalow!

Yippeeeeee!

Ok, now with good advice, I must calm down and not get too excited just in case it falls through (god, I hope I don’t jinx this!) but I think we’ve found the place we’ve been searching for, for ages!

It was yet another day of viewings, I had devised this system of organising viewings into groups of three or four, doing them all on one day, giving me a good few days in between ensuring that I have enough time to recover in between. It seemed to have worked so far, having checked the internet every single night for new places, I would contact the now very familiar estate agents to arrange the viewings. Up until now, they had proved to be pretty hopeless in terms of finding THE one but very educational in showing us exactly what we DIDN’T want! We didn’t want one tiny bedroom downstairs and a big ensuite master room upstairs, we didn’t want the perfect bungalow that was over 2hours drive away from my dad and we certainly didn’t want something that needed a complete rebuild! Each time we did a viewing day, we started out with great hopes that we might find what we were looking for but each time returned home with no hopes at all. We knew we were being very fussy (or just downright bloody picky as someone close to me once said!) and we didn’t want anything as fancy as a lift indoors but we really did need a very specific set of requirements; it needed to be big enough for me to use my wheelchair inside, it needed to have a good sized DOWNSTAIRS bedroom (who knew so many bungalows these days have bedrooms UPSTAIRS? What’s that all about?) and it needed to have the all important view! Now even the whole research team of the TV programme we appeared on couldn’t find us anything so why on earth did we think we could do better but we had to keep looking.

To be honest, the structural bit wasn’t too difficult to find, there were many that we could shape into what we needed, knock a wall down here or there and make it right but the view bit was putting the proverbial spoke in the wheel. Many of the places we viewed had a pretty garden or a leafy outlook but that normally came with an unmentioned load of houses overlooking them or there was an abandoned shop next door. Why did every ‘quiet and pleasant‘ cul de sac always have something weird next door, behind it or just in a very rough area? So finding the requisite ‘something lovely to look at‘ was proving tricky.

THE day started like every other viewing day; four viewings organised, all scattered throughout a rather large area, south of Cardiff, just outside Neath, towards Brecon and lastly up to Ebbw Vale. We had student son with us for another opinion and perspective and with a flask of coffee and the essential chocolate we set off. The first one looked great on paper, large plot, good layout with a large bedroom plus a dressing area with a shower! Unfortunately, in reality, it had the most plastic wood panelling I’ve ever seen, if it wasn’t on the wall, it was on the ceiling! The whole house needed updating (estate agents speak for everything needs pulling out and doing again!), it also had two old shops next door that had been abandoned many years before and a very well vandalised back wall. So off to the next place we went……

Place no.2 was a much nicer proposition – a really ‘charming’ (meaning small or tiny!) bungalow that was actually well set out, clean and tidy and a cute little garden overlooking the town. Unfortunately the word ‘charming’ meant that it was far too small so that one was struck off quite quickly.

After a stop for coffee, sandwiches and the essential chocolate, off to the third we went. And what a find! It was actually bigger than it looked from the photos (which never happens, they always use a lens that stretches everything out and makes it look bigger! ) it had two bathrooms and two bedrooms downstairs and the cutest attic rooms. The whole place was so cute and well presented that we all just glanced at each other with a ‘omg, we might like this one‘ look. It was almost perfect; the kitchen wasn’t quite right but could be easily altered, the rooms downstairs could work as a bedroom plus a dressing room for me (obviously!) and it had a garage for P to play in. But most of all, it had a view of green fields, green meadows and green mountains from EVERY room – it was pretty much green everywhere. 

So immediately we grabbed the estate agent, an offer was, well, offered and hesitantly off to the last property we went.

We didn’t have high hopes for this one but it was actually rather nice and we had a moment of ‘should we have offered on the last place, cos this is actually quite nice?’ but we had a good look around and thought that it could actually work, no real view but it had loads of room and loads of actual rooms too!

As we went back to the car, P had his usual ‘where’s my phone?’ moment and rushed to the car to look. There was a loud ringing as he opened the car door, he found his phone and thankfully he answered the bloody thing before they hung up. It was the estate agent from property no.3 and our offer had been accepted!

We politely said “oh that’s great news, we’ll be in touch shortly” turned to each other and literally screamed with joy! There was much jumping, screeching and hugging (Not from me obvs, I was the picture of demure happiness!) and home we went, with the thought, the actual thought, that this may well be it, THE place, THE ACTUAL bloody place……..!!!!!

Stock photos used!