Feest Isolation Days – 14 April
We decided that as it was Easter we would give ourselves a little holiday and go away for a couple of days. It has been a real treat! We spent two nights (and I spent a great deal of the afternoon) in MSB – the main spare bedroom. The vista from here is different than that from our own room. There is a more distant view and an openness that our bedroom doesn’t have. Many many friends have stayed here over the years and I finally see why they all enjoy the room so much. It’s the sort of inviting place that makes you want to curl up with a good book and laze away the afternoon – well at least it does on a Bank Holiday Monday.
This house is a magnificent place that was built in 1860. It took us many years to develop its current style. When we moved to Bristol from Exeter we never imagined we would still be here twenty nine years later! We looked at over fifty houses before we found our new home. We bought it as a maisonette and didn’t walk inside together until the day we moved in. Terry saw it first and said he thought I should have a look. It captured both of our hearts. We didn’t have enough money to do things up the way we would have liked to then, and lived with an avocado bathroom and a blue bathroom for many years. Our bedroom, which was then downstairs, was painted bubble gum pink and had a shaggy minty green carpet on the floor. The first thing we did on moving in day before the furniture arrived from Devon was get rid of the pink. Our paint brushes moved furiously over the walls as we wanted to be able to sleep in our bedroom on our first night. The green carpet didn’t get replaced for a long time. About two years after we were here, the woman who lived in the upstairs flat said she was moving and offered us the first option to buy. Although we couldn’t afford it, we found a helpful bank manager who recognised that owning the entire house was a good investment and helped us with both a mortgage and the deposit. We rented out the upstairs flat to individuals instead of a group and in addition to my other work at the time, I became a landlady. In the eleven years that followed we had many tenants meet each other, and two marriages. Not content with my role as just a landlady I became a matchmaker! We never thought we’d be able to afford to put the place back into a single home again, but times changed and our efforts were rewarded. Sixteen years ago, the footsteps overhead ceased. Our last tenants moved out and we set about the process of returning the house to its original state. Our bedroom moved upstairs, and just as many of our friends were thinking of downsizing, we upsized.
In all those years, the only time I’ve slept in the main spare bedroom has been when one of us was ill and keeping the other awake. I never before visited as though I was a guest for a few days. If you happen to have the luxury of a spare room I’d recommend you move in for a day or so. A different perspective on your own home is fascinating.
I miss the teenage grandchildren pounding up and down the stairs, slamming doors and generally making the house come alive. When this is all over I hope that they will come and stay, with their parents, and fill up all of these rooms again. A celebration will certainly be in order! In the meantime, I’ve enjoyed our little holiday and may plan a return visit to the MSB again. For now, it’s back “home” to our own room and the routine we have developed in the past few weeks. As the old proverb says, “a change is as good as a rest.” It’s still true!
And something beautiful and inspiring to watch…..
Happy days.
With love
Kathyx