They say moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do. I have never really understood this as it should be exciting, the start of a new adventure (assuming you’re moving out of choice!). The last time I moved house was nearly ten years ago now. I have mixed memories of that day as although we were so excited to be moving to a bigger Victorian house, it was sad to leave behind our first home together, a little Victorian cottage that we had done lots of work to and one where we had such fun times and lots of parties. I cried like a baby when we closed the front door, completely unexpectedly!
This week has been another week of mixed emotions. On Tuesday the removal men turned up at our home in London to pack up all the furniture I have been collecting over the last year. And what a relief to see it go – we now have space back in our house and there’s nowhere for the cats to hide amongst all the boxes!
However, the first stress was worrying whether it would all fit into the van (it did, just!) and then I spent the next few days worrying whether they would cross the Channel safely and continue their journey by road down to Southern Italy.
We flew out to Brindisi on Thursday morning, staying with our great friends at Masseria Prosperi for one night. After staying there every month for the last year, it was a strange feeling to think we wouldn’t stay there again. But we had a lovely dinner and chatted to Antonio and Mercedes about the house.
The next day we arrived at the house…
We were expecting the removal men to arrive just after lunch time on the Friday. They emailed us a link to a website that showed their exact location, so we could watch their progress on the final leg of their journey. Too exciting!! Many cups of tea later…
They arrived just after 4.30pm … and left at 9.30pm. Boxes and boxes came off the van, numerous trips back and forth as all our belongings were unloaded.
We had asked that they help with the construction of our beds and dining table. However, it took them 3 hours to put together the bed for our bedroom, a beautiful bespoke oak bed from Rupert Bevan. By the time that was done, it was getting late. As long as our bed was complete, that was all that we really needed that night.
After opening a bottle of the obligatory prosecco to toast the house, we sat down to take it all in. Phew! Finally in our new home in Italy. After all that lifting and hard work, hunger had kicked in so we went to our local bar, Uccera for a well deserved beer & burger.