Thank you everyone It's been quite a ride, hasn't it? But we're near the end of this part of the journey..
I haven't been able to line up something to live in, in Ireland, which is driving the control freak in me nuts, but we'll see how things go next week. We spoke to an agent I know over there and she said to let her know when we're ready, so we can meet up and discuss our options. I think that would be better… Ah well?
Tomorrow I need to throw my rather depleted earthly possessions in a pile and start sorting and packing. I did have fun shopping this last 2 weeks for new clothes and goodies to take with, including two lovely, handmade wire-and-bead chickens:
I had to rehome what was left of my flock last weekend and that was very difficult, so I bought these on impulse lol Said to my DH I got to have some chickens around, hey? At least I can take these two with!
Those are adorable! Maybe in a kitchen window?
Remember that any rental will be strictly temporary- you can live in the meanest shack if you know it's only for a little while. You've posted so many 'possibles' that I'm certain you will find the perfect forever home very quickly.
We arrived in Ireland yesterday! The flights were long, but uneventful except for right at the end when a gust of wind turned the aircraft a little just as we landed in Dublin. As a result we landed a bit sideways lol But apart from that it went o.k. We travelled and stopped over for about 28 hours in total, which was very tiring, but it's done.
We're stopping in a B&B near Dublin at the moment while we're car buying and catching our breaths. I'll phone the agent about a property soon. I'll keep you all posted.
I found a lovely place to rent It's maybe 2 miles from where we stayed previously! lol I wasn't planning to stay here again, I was aiming further inland, but we popped in at DS's old school to say Hi to his teachers and he wanted to stay, so we left him there… We visited with a local agent that I spoke to some via email before coming here and asked if he doesn't have something for us to rent. He send us to a lovely little farm, but we found the house had got broken into and was a huge mess, quite uninhabitable. So back to the agent who was not optimistic. We visited a bit with another lady from SA that we knew here previously, picked up DS from school and while I was chatting with the headmistress, the agent phoned DH and said he found us a place!
The house was a fix upper and the owner is about halfway through the project only, so we'll have to wait another 4-5 weeks before we can move in, but it's lovely. It has outbuildings that I can use for chickens and massive pastures, some of which I can use for chickens. The house itself is cleaning up nicely, has 4 bedrooms, a solid fuel stove and breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside.
The foundation in the first pic is the remains of an old poultry barn
While we're waiting for that house, we're renting a holiday cottage nearby. It's bliss to have a house to ourselves again after "camping" for about 3 weeks!