The last couple of days have seen us saying important farewells to family and friends as our time in Salisbury is coming to an end. It is hard to say goodbye - even though leaving is completely our choice, there is still loss and we are grieving.

On Friday, Peter finished his job of 18 years and said goodbye to colleagues, some he had known for that long.

We have had a farewell dinner with close friends who have been an important part of our life in Salisbury. We moved to Salisbury and actually the same neighbourhood at around the …

Yesterday, we exchanged contracts. It was a relief! It is unnerving to get to within ten days of the completion date with no firm guarantees that it will all go through. At least, the act of exchanging contracts gives more security in that all parties firm up their commitment to sell/buy as the case may be.

It is now ten weeks since we accepted an offer on our house in Salisbury and our offer on the smallholding in Wales was accepted. In the grand scheme of things, it is a short length of time - and things have progressed smoothly …

With less than two weeks to go before completion date, packing is now well under way at our house in Salisbury… there is plenty to be done: furniture to dismantle, possessions to sort, bags to take to the charity shop, cleaning to do… Every so often, a pang of sadness stops us in our tracks: as this part of our life is ending, we reflect and reminisce on the 15 years we have spent in this house, where our two children grew up. And as they are now leaving the nest, we look forward to a very different life in …