HELLO… VICTORIA COTTAGE!

That’s right folks, the upcoming project that I alluded to a few weeks ago is our new house! We bought a house! I feel like a proper adult now…

Waaaaay back in March, we listed our flat on the market and started hunting for the perfect house. We debated a few areas and neighbourhoods, but in the end came back to the good ol’ London Borough of Bexley. Our new house is actually just around the corner from the flat!

When it came to the neighbourhood pros and cons, we looked at commute (we both work in London), schools (both for resale and in case we’re still living here by then), house prices (could we afford to live there), resale potential (could we make money) and the overall ‘feel’ of the neighbourhood. Some of the areas seemed amazing on paper but when we visited them and walked around… just didn’t feel right.

Some neighbourhoods were too ‘up-and-coming’ (to put it nicely). We knew the value could go up over the next 5-10 years but didn’t really feel comfortable living there. Others were too pricey (here’s looking at you Hither Green); we debated Sevenoaks, because we liked its ‘quintessential English’ feel, but the commute and prices just made it unsuitable.

So we sat down, talked through everywhere we had looked at and realised that we both actually liked living in Sidcup! It’s not that we were lazy and didn’t want to move – Sidcup has a lot going for it. I actually can’t understand why the market here isn’t more expensive!

It’s got great rail links (22 minutes to London Bridge), green spaces (Five Arches is lovely), convenient shops (Waitrose, Morrison’s, Boots, Holland & Barrett, etc.) and, as I said before, great local schools. And the biggest bonus? We can keep our allotments!!

Our new house isn’t perfect (yet), but we’re going to make it something really special. I have sooooooo many plans and ideas, as you can imagine – I just need time and money, ha. Want a sneak peek? Just check out this mess!

Oh, and in case you weren’t sure it was meant to be, the house has a name (which I have always wanted by the way)… Victoria Cottage. Yup, I didn’t give it that name, it already had it! It’s the name of the city where I grew up, which I named this blog after… so of course it was the house for us!

So stick around this space and see how we’re turning this old house into our dream little cottage… it’s going to be amazing.

Now excuse me while I order a custom address stamp… I’ve always wanted to have a house with a name…

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