If there is one thing that the pandemic did, it was to make my wife realise that she could change her life. After spending all her working life in the same university department doing the same job essentially the same way, she was forced to learn how to do that job online. So if she could work different, then maybe she could live different too.
In the middle of winter she searched the property market online and came up with a short list for me - but there was only one that came close to fitting what I would like. Fortunately the owners had halved the price because they could not find anyone interested, seeing as how it was in a small village in the back end of nowhere, with just the one road in, out and within. Having spent almost her entire life living in a city apartment here in Poland, choosing this wooden cottage far from the nearest shopping mall was a life-changing step for her. For me it was more like a return to my childhood.
There was a lot of snow, and we were not quite sure from the maps which of the roads there were tarmacked or not. We had competition too, as three other couples from other sides of Poland were also interested - but we had three aces - wifie's family came from the region, we lived only a couple of kilometres from where the owners now lived in the city, and our competitors were finding it hard to raise the mortgages they needed. It was like it was meant to be.
We went to visit and I can honestly say that I cannot remember the last time I saw wifie so excited. The cottage was very nice, but clearly in need of a lot of work. There was also a cellar under the cottage and another outside, a well, and three barns enclosing the yard (which we call the wooden, the brick and the big barn), beyond which was a small orchard and beyond that a field under cultivation. All the properties in the village have narrow frontages, and behind the house and farm buildings there is a long and narrow strip field.
Wifie on the day we went to see the property, with the cottage and our Toyota Yaris 'truck'.
A bit later in the year, with the brick barn on the left and the big barn straight ahead. Some of those doors can blow open in really high winds, hence all the poles and boards making sure they don't. The big barn houses some of the farm machinery of the cousins of the former owners, who also farm our field.
With all the formalities completed in a legal office, with wifie guaranteeing that she will not sell the field for at least 5 years and keep it under cultivation, we were ready. The cottage wasn't, neither was the weather, and it took nearly two months before the heating, water, IT and electricity were working well enough for us to stay for longer than a weekend.
In the middle of winter she searched the property market online and came up with a short list for me - but there was only one that came close to fitting what I would like. Fortunately the owners had halved the price because they could not find anyone interested, seeing as how it was in a small village in the back end of nowhere, with just the one road in, out and within. Having spent almost her entire life living in a city apartment here in Poland, choosing this wooden cottage far from the nearest shopping mall was a life-changing step for her. For me it was more like a return to my childhood.
There was a lot of snow, and we were not quite sure from the maps which of the roads there were tarmacked or not. We had competition too, as three other couples from other sides of Poland were also interested - but we had three aces - wifie's family came from the region, we lived only a couple of kilometres from where the owners now lived in the city, and our competitors were finding it hard to raise the mortgages they needed. It was like it was meant to be.
We went to visit and I can honestly say that I cannot remember the last time I saw wifie so excited. The cottage was very nice, but clearly in need of a lot of work. There was also a cellar under the cottage and another outside, a well, and three barns enclosing the yard (which we call the wooden, the brick and the big barn), beyond which was a small orchard and beyond that a field under cultivation. All the properties in the village have narrow frontages, and behind the house and farm buildings there is a long and narrow strip field.
Wifie on the day we went to see the property, with the cottage and our Toyota Yaris 'truck'.
A bit later in the year, with the brick barn on the left and the big barn straight ahead. Some of those doors can blow open in really high winds, hence all the poles and boards making sure they don't. The big barn houses some of the farm machinery of the cousins of the former owners, who also farm our field.
With all the formalities completed in a legal office, with wifie guaranteeing that she will not sell the field for at least 5 years and keep it under cultivation, we were ready. The cottage wasn't, neither was the weather, and it took nearly two months before the heating, water, IT and electricity were working well enough for us to stay for longer than a weekend.