A Pie Dish .....and a House

The quay at Topsham on Sunday.

On Sunday I drive to Topsham. The only thing on my mind is to buy an old fashioned pie dish from the Antiques Wharehouse on the quay. I'm planning a cooking lesson for a dear friend and I need a small ceramic dish for an oven roasted vegetable frittata.

On the way I drive past  the site of some new eco friendly/zero carbon homes which are being built by a company called Heritage. Right up Robin's street.

I notice there is a woman in the glass fronted sales office. I turn the car round and go back.  I ask to view the show house. She lets me walk around it on my own.

The second I put my foot over the threshold I fall in love with it. The big open plan space is full of light and beauty and clean, clear lines and an open-tread staircase made of ash, rises to the first floor.

It feels like it is calling me home.

I choose a house on a plot which has a big oak tree in front of it - with a preservation order on it. And another tree which would be at the end of the garden - when it is built.

Today I go back to the site with my sister. We don hard hats and wellie boots and walk around the  perimeter of the house which is already on its way up. And I try and imagine what the oak tree will be like when it's in full leaf - when I can see it from inside the living room.

And all I can feel is a huge and deep and everlasting gratitude to Robin for making any of it possible.

Although I worry a bit about the M5 motorway running so close by, nothing stops me paying the reservation deposit.

 However, there is a slight delay as I can't remember my 4 digit security code for an account I don't use much - I know it's a combination of the numbers of my wedding anniversary date - but not which order - and I have to ring the bank before the payment will go through.

And then it's done. And all I have to do now is to sell our house. Let it go..... and let go of the life we had here. 

And start dreaming about another new and hopeful life.

In my new home.

PS As well as buying a house I also bought the pie dish...a second hand oval ceramic one made by Denby....perfect for the frittata.