The time is now: part two

Life at Greenfields will soon be over. A new dream awaits Diana and her family, but there's much to treasure in these last few weeks in a home that's been so full of love

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Nerve-wracking, that's the only way I can describe the last month. Wholly nerve-wracking. Over the past two decades, Andrew and I have bought and sold eight properties across two continents, and even after all that 'experience', the process doesn't seem to become any smoother.

After receiving an offer to buy Greenfields, the buyers withdrew two weeks later, and so we were back on the market again. I might not have been too perturbed by this, having only just made peace with the decision to move. However, in the same time frame, we had stumbled across, viewed twice and made an offer on what I can only describe as another iteration of my dream home and garden.

It's old and charming, stupidly idyllic to my old-world sensibilities, wildly rural yet oddly close to town, said town being the great city of Edinburgh. My eldest daughter spotted the For Sale sign by chance. I audibly gasped at first sight, then immediately tucked the want away, as we were firmly on the new-build path at that point. Needless to say, that train of thought didn't last long. We-my husband perhaps more so even than me - fell in love with the property, its potential and its proximity to everything, while still being tucked away in the landscape.