Our House for Our Son

There's a  lot to be said for having a brand new large house, with landscaped gardens and all mod cons. I often feel that this is what I should aspire to, especially after visiting relatives and friends in said types of homes.  But I have always wanted an old house, that has been lived in, that has character and that has neighbours that are a good mix of old and young.

I am happy to say that is exactly the type of house we live in now.  We bought it three years ago and then only because our baby was due. We wanted him to have his own room and a garden to play in. Otherwise we might still be living in our apartment and putting the move off.  As it was, we embarked on two huge things in life at the same time, having a baby and moving house.

I loved the house the minute I set foot in it. The neighbourhood is so quiet and the back garden so private you could almost be in the country.  Yet we are only a thirty minute walk or ten minute drive from the city and the beach.There are plenty of schools in the vicinity and quaint coffee shops to while away a free morning. It is also only a short drive to my mothers house.

When I was a kid I always loved to visit the older type houses where there was something to discover and explore. Where you didn't have to worry that you would spill something on the white carpet or the gleaming table tops. I remember my parents taking us to visit their friends in the countryside in Kildare.  We loved it because there was an old wreck of a car in the back field that we could pretend to drive.

Then there were the friends who lived in a big old house in the city. The back garden was full of wild flowers and old trees and long forgotten knickknacks. How I loved to play and explore there.  The landscaped gardens that most people have today, big or small, just do not hold the same kind of adventure.  At the end of our garden is a private lane that runs along the back of the houses.  We have put a swing up in the big old tree there and our son loves to play out there with his friends.  He calls it his secret garden.

Our son is almost three now and I feel that our house is a magical place for him to be. Sure, it needs renovating and that will be done in due course but it has all the elements that I found so appealing when I was a child myself. It has nooks and crannies, a secret garden and a storybook atmosphere.

And it is certainly where my heart is..