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I have just put Boo down for a nap after a busy morning of socialising. We always go to a singing group round the corner on Monday morning but this week a few of us from the group had a coffee morning before hand at one of the Mummies' houses. This house was massive and easily accommodated 6 Mummies and 6 toddlers without it seeming remotely crowded; in fact I barely saw Boo, she was too busy exploring all the rooms and playing with the many, many toys on offer! Coming back to my house afterwards made it feel pokier than I have ever felt it. But I had better get used to that feeling as we live in pretty affluent area and most of the houses around here are more like mansions than your average family home!

The Thames running through Goring

We moved to Goring-On-Thames in Spring last year, but have known of it for many years as DaddyBear's Auntie used to live here. I have coveted a life in this village ever since my first visit when I was 20. It is the most beautiful place, set in a valley surrounded by hills and trees with the Thames running through the centre of it. The schools are excellent, it has it's own train station with direct trains to London, Oxford and elsewhere, it has quaint cafes and cosy pubs, a beautiful little library, a Doctor's surgery, a pharmacy, a Vet's, a Dentist's, grocer's, toy shop, the list goes on and on! What I'm trying to say, is that it has everything I could ever want in a village! But all these amenities mean the house prices are way above national average, and I never thought we would be able to afford a proper family home here.

Before I got pregnant with Boo, DaddyBear and I had planned that we would have a baby and then move out to New Zealand when said baby was 1. New Zealand is where his Auntie had moved to and we had visited a couple of times and adored it and the lifestyle it offered. However, when I did get pregnant I became overcome with a homing instinct and the thought of moving so far away made me feel terrified and it just no longer held the same appeal. When Boo was actually born, that homing instinct disappeared and I felt keen to make a change. At the time we were living where I had grown up, in a busy suburb of Reading. It has a lot going for it but it was too crowded and close to town for what I wanted, plus I was just bored of it. 

We began house hunting and visiting various villages trying to find the perfect place, but always came back to Goring. It was the only place that ticked all our boxes. I checked Rightmove pretty much every 5 minutes eager to find anything in our price range that had what we needed. Goring is a small village and there were no houses on the market within our budget for quite a while. I began to feel quite lost, and started to try and decide on a plan B, when finally a 3 Bedroomed Semi came up in our price range! We booked a viewing immediately and I fell in love with it. I had a small garden and not a lot of space downstairs, but there was a garage ripe for conversion and the bedrooms were so sweet and from what would have been Boo's room you could see the nearby hill. 

We went home and discussed it and arranged to view it again in the day time. After that we made an offer, but the estate agent said they could not accept an offer from us as we were yet to sell our own house. Gutted we sat and waited. It was horrendous trying to keep our own house looking like a show home whilst looking after a 1 year old! I dreaded viewings, but dreaded more the call afterwards saying that they weren't interested.

Meanwhile another house a couple of streets down came on the market for the same price. The place looked older and in need of more work that the first place so I didn't have high hopes. We went for a viewing and liked the place, it had a much bigger garden and a good layout but needed work doing so, after doing a pros and cons list, decided to stick with the first.

Sunset from nearby hill, the house is down there!

A couple of weeks later I got an email saying that the second house had been reduced by £35,000, which took it below the stamp duty threshold, making it vastly more affordable than the first house, and meaning that there would be enough money leftover to do the work we would want to do to it! We went to view it the following day full of hope and excitement. We got there early and had a look around the immediate area, the house was surrounded by hills and woodland, had a path a couple of doors down that led to a playing filed, play park and the Pre-School and Primary School. I could not believe I hadn't realised how amazing it's location was before! We looked around, admiring the views from every window, and making plans for what we'd change. But again the estate agent said that we had to sell our house first before we could proceed with an offer. I knew this was 'our' house. I knew we had found 'the one'. Everything about it felt right and I could not bear to think that we might lose out on it.

The next day we got a call to say a couple who were in rented, and so had nothing to sell, had made an asking price offer on it which had been accepted. I felt like I'd been shot. I didn't see how we would ever get a better opportunity to have our perfect house in our perfect location. There was nothing we could do though. We'd lost it.

The next day the agent rang back and said that the couple who had offered on it had been denied a mortgage because of bad credit history so the house was back on the market!!! Never have I been so glad to hear of someone else's money problems!

We had 3 viewings on our own place lined up for the following day, so that night I hid every single one of Boo's toys from sight and made the house look as good as it could have done!

I took Boo to soft play the next day and at lunchtime got a call from DaddyBear to say that someone had offered on our house!!! After a quick negotiation we agreed a deal! We contacted the Goring agents immediately and had our offer accepted that afternoon! It was like a dream. A dream that I had had for so many years. I had to keep pinching myself to believe it. I broke down in tears, overcome with happiness that I was going to be able to give my Boo the childhood I was so desperate for her to have.

View from just up the road from us, on one of my runs!

And now, 9 months down the line, I am still pinching myself! I absolutely adore everything about living here. Everyone is so friendly, there's so much to do, Boo is already making friends with little ones that will be in her year at school. We go to singing in the scout hut round the corner, Toddler Group in the centre of the village, and Boo's just started at the basically next door Pre-School. The village has several parks and open fields to play in, which we frequent often! I love exploring the countryside and having it on our doorstep and have even taken up running, (which if you knew me you would probably gasp at and suggest I'm lying, because sport of any kind has never been my forte, at all!) just so I can go exploring the various footpaths, hills and woodland without a slowing-me-down toddler in tow! 

Dancing to the Carols

Every Christmas Eve they hold a torchlight procession which ends in a field in the middle of the village, with a bonfire and we all sing Christmas carols led by a live band. We have been every year for 7 years now, and DaddyBear has been even longer, due to his Auntie previously living in the village. But this year was our first as proper members of the community, and it just so happened that his Auntie and family were visiting for the first time at Christmas since moving to New Zealand! I found myself welling up as I watched our families and our dear Boo, join in such a wonderful, magical tradition, and realised that I am a part of that magic now too. 

Sunrise view from our bedroom window

The house itself has undergone a major transformation, with the addition of a large conservatory open to the kitchen, and a playroom for Boo. We got a wendy house for Boo, and I can watch her playing in the garden from the kitchen. It has become my perfect family home. 

So you can keep your mansions thank you very much, because we have all we need right here, a dream come true! 


MummyBear x