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MAJOR EVENT!!
We have opened at last. Please see our new website at www.dyfiview.co.uk or contact us on info@dyfiview.co.uk
Hi! It's Mike & Gill again
Welcome to our site about progress on our B&B in Wales. Please keep logging in as we'll try to add any news whenever we can - then when we go live you might be lucky enough to be guest number one!
When our real website is up and running you'll find a link here. Meanwhile, please read the summary below, or the blog, or contact us on info@dyfiview.co.uk
| Quick Summary | Hooray! The Eagle has Landed! We are now open for business at www.dyfiview.co.uk . See you all soon! |
The story so far:
Gill has always had this little hankering to run a Bed & Breakfast. With my good fortune in being able to retire at age 60, thanks to the good old Local Government Pension Scheme, it looked like it might be possible sooner rather than later. Then came the dreaded Credit Crunch and mortgages dried up - but fortunately house prices dropped too. One day we realised we could just about afford to buy a house outright, without a mortgage, thanks to some money inherited from my late mother.
We love walking in beautiful countryside so we started searching on Right Move etc to find something that would meet our needs - fine walking country, a house that didn't require too much work to bring it up to a luxury B&B standard, and at least a reasonable sized garden.
Our first hope was to move to South Devon, but all the house prices seem to have a 1 and a comma added on the front.
We tried the Lake District - prices were higher than the surrounding fells. There was nothing in our bracket. We also tried the Dales - the fells were lower but the prices weren't.
Next try was North Devon. We got details of a great property near Clovelly that was almost in our price range, so we travelled down there, stayed over night, woke with excitement and enthusiasm, and met the agent at the property next morning. She arrived late - and then announced that the property had been sold the day before! Our first wasted journey.
No other suitable properties came on the market in that area so we extended the search to North Wales. We have always loved the area since we used to come here in our teens and twenties to climb the 3000ft peaks in Snowdonia. We would rent a cottage with a bunch of friends. It was great - mountain all day and mountin' all night - you can't beat it. We drank like fish and ate like horses, but a diet of salt water and hay gets a bit boring after a while so we switched to meat pies - a strict calorie-controlled diet, the more calories the better. Yes, we have great memories of this place - and the house prices seemed more reasonable too.
So it was off to Wales to view houses. The problem with a depressed market is that although prices are lower, nobody wants to sell if they can help it - so there's not much choice. After several trips viewing weird houses that nobody could sell - partly because of the weirdness of the owners, we decided to stop pussy-footing around and put in a realistic offer on one property - and immediately recieved a rejection. (It's just like writing a book.) Then we put in a bigger offer - and that was rejected too. In the end we thought sod it. After another couple of wasted journeys for one reason or another a strange property crept in from the left field - and we had to start learning how to pronounce Machynlleth...
Now read on by clicking 'Blog' here or on the side menu. (It's up at the top on the left) The first blog entry is 13th June. You might have to work back if you are a newcomer to this site - but I can assure you it's worthwhile if only for the laughs! Being a writer, Mike can never resist the urge to make a story of it.
