year one

27 September 2014



We have been living on the Isle of Wight for one whole year now! I must say the transition from London to countryside has been much easier than I thought it would be. We moved from south east London to a very small town (one of the smallest in Britian) next to a nature reserve (and the sea of course!). Strangely we seem to have more social life here than in London. I guess there are not as many young people around so they tend to be more friendly and get to know each other quickly, most are not originally from the Island so have moved here for the same reasons as us. I love the pace of life down here, lots of interesting people and fresh air. Our daughter has a lovely group of friends of different ages and is looking forward to her second birthday soon, blimey!
She loves the area we live because she can walk a few yards from our house and see ducks and swans and fish, woods and river and marshes. Everyone walks their dogs and socialises that way too.There are many blackberries to be picked and wild plants to learn about. Best of all she likes to throw pebbles into the water.



The Island has lots of nice events going on during the summer too, not all of them we have managed to get to, but the ones involving vehicles seem top of the list for my mister.
This was the scooter rally...





(dancing to The Jam)

fruit and veg shopping in Bembridge...




Going to the beach used to be something we did when it was a really hot day, but now we live so close, we go to the beach whenever, or just stop off on the way to get somewhere, or just park the car so the nipper can have a snooze. 





There are many people who own vintage cars on the Island too, so my mister has met lots of other like minded locals. This was a small Morris Minor event taking place at the steam railway station.






(our's is the one with the eye lids!)


we found the bus that we hired for our wedding...

 2014 & 2010





We did SOOO much more which I can't squeeze in here, but suffice to say that we have had a really good year, and much more exciting times to come no doubt ; )

10 comments

  1. Every time we go to the 'country' we talk about whether we'd like to move out of London and what we do etc, have lovely little fantasy conversations... then we come home and remember how much we love London and enjoy life here too. I'd like to clone myself and live a bit of both lives! It's been lovely reading your blog over the last year and following your transition.

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  2. Anonymous27.9.14

    That is a gorgeous photo of Pehr, sat on the Morris Minor!
    I know what you mean, we live in a small seaside town of Somerset and love the slow pace country life and community. I've never been to IOW, but it's a place I'd love to visit after reading your blog.

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  3. ah, those creamy open-top buses - the memories..

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  4. Blissful. The photo of you and Pehr on the sand is my favourite. Here's to many more happy IOW years xo

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  5. Love to hear about IOW life Artemis, I live in a village just down the road from Ardingly and wouldn't willingly return to being a townie. Your pic of Pehr on the Moggie bonnet is delightful.

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  6. Your Morris Traveller is gorgeous, I love them. It sounds as though Island life is agreeing with you. We moved out of a busy area of Bristol to a small town in South Gloucestershire and had much the same experience. Everyone knows everyone else here, and the countryside is a minute away. We love it. CJ xx

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  7. It's lovely to hear how successful the transition has been. I love living so near to the SE coast but so many in my village never even drive the 10 minutes to the beach! It's funny how some people are so busy 'doing' and not 'seeing'. xx

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  8. I know what you mean! I moved from a city to the 'middle of nowhere' about 2.5 years ago, now, and I was worried I'd feel isolated. But I actually know my neighbors better (even though they live farther away), and I know lots of people in town. It's just a different sense of community than you get in a city -- for me, at least. My daughter is almost a year old, and I'm happy she'll get to grow up with this!

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  9. I stumbled across your blog via another blog and so glad I did! Love to hear about your life on the Island. I live in Southsea and we often pop over on the Hover for a day trip out. I love being five minutes from the seaside and can't imagine living in a big city! Love your camper van and Morris Minor - would love one myself! Sharon

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  10. Pehr is looking as adorable as ever!!! Glad to hear you transitioned so well.

    P.S. That blackberry bush looks less thorny than the ones we found here in the U.S. I wouldn't let my son get near any of those due to the thorns!

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