How moving house has changed everything

Creating a home in the Yorkshire town of Holmfirth

This time last year we were loading up the hired truck with what felt like a gazillion boxes, in a Jenga like fashion, in hot, sweaty weather. Seventeen years’ worth of life, delivered back and forth to a storage unit, breaking our 14-year-old son’s muscles and all of our reserved patience.

Eight months earlier we had started this process, just before Christmas we were celebrating selling our house, and finding a new, but very old one, that we all agreed on, no mean feat I tell you.

However, having not moved for so long, we didn’t realise the house moving process hadn’t, pardon the pun, moved on. At all. In fact, going through this felt very much like we were stuck in reverse gear.

Knowing what I know now, going through ADHD referral, I understand more about why my patience threshold is so low, to the point that last year, I felt in a perpetual state of meltdown throughout this snail-pace process.

I used to work in corporate marketing, fast-paced delivery of campaigns that met the deadline come hell or highwater, and so I could not fathom why this system was so archaic and frustrating.

It reached the point of not being able to sleep and feeling like my heart was permanently racing, and so I took matters into my own hands and visited Johnathan Halstead, a local psychic, to see if he could tell me if this move was actually going to happen.

It was getting so close to the wire of the chain collapsing, I simply had to know either way for my own sanity.

As always, I gave Johnathan no information, went in with an open mind to just see what would come up. Thankfully the house did, he described it perfectly, details he couldn’t have known, and said it would happen, but it was going to take a while, but we would be in before Christmas! I think it was May / June time I went to see him. Knowing it may be a longer process was annoying but reassuring that it would happen. Thank goodness it was all going to be ok.

He also said, ‘You do know that there is a ghost in your current house, don’t you?’ I did, I’d always thought it may be a cow, it used to be a barn that had cows in it, but he said ‘No, you hear a light switch on a night, don’t you?’ - I did, and only I ever heard it. He continued, ‘That’s an old lady that lived there, she’s nice don’t worry, she’s just switching the light off before she goes to bed.’

Thankfully this kind of thing doesn’t scare or phase me, as you’ve probably realised, and it was kind of nice now knowing that’s what I heard most nights.

And he also said your heart is not in the old house now, it’s in the new one. Boy did I know that. Since finding this gem of a crazy property, it had been all I’d thought about, for days and months on end.

I don’t know even how to describe this house really, you’ll see more from the photos, but it is two houses combined into one, an old early 18 hundreds weavers mill, typified by the small windows on the right, and the owners house attached on the left which is more Georgian style.

It has a labyrinth of staircases, cellars, large store cupboards, wonky stone floors, the old servants’ bells, and more character than you can shake a stick at. It is quirky beyond belief, will be a forever ‘working on it’ project (much to the husband’s despair) but a complete labour of love (in my eyes anyway!). 

Part of the old Mill has previously been used as an Air BnB which I would love to run again at some point, perhaps when the children have left for uni.

There are several wow factors in this place, and my favourites are as follows;

·        The 30 ft terrace that overlooks the whole garden,

·        The gardens themselves both front and back which include around a dozen big trees and all kinds of flowers coming up and pushing for the lime-light – I’m no gardener so this is all fascinating to me!

·        The double height bathroom, that we have just painted – there’s so much light in there.

·        The calm green sitting room

·        The garden studio where I can paint to my heart’s content with the apple tree in view.

·        But my absolute favourite is the sound of the river at the bottom of the garden, I’ve always been a water baby, and that constant sound of the river flowing in the background is just heaven.

BUT, I don’t want you thinking it’s all been a bed of roses! We’ve also encountered many challenges, within weeks we;

·        Needed a new boiler – which is massive for the size of this house, and a small fortune.

·        Had a leak on the top floor through the Velux window which has meant re plastering a large wall.

·        Were freezing in the Autumn and Winter, there are many open fires here that are not efficient, and you can imagine the gas bills.

·        Had 2 rats that had an absolute ball running around the house in the walls, driving the dog, and us crazy with the very loud noises they made! (Thankfully now gone!)

·        Had a leak from the shower above the kitchen, raining water through the kitchen ceiling.

·        Have some quite random people outside the house sometimes, as we are just set back from a main road, or sirens whizzing by.

This is what you get with a really old house. There will always be things that need to be fixed or sorted, and I’m so glad we are now in Summer, and the house is warmer! We are putting plans in place for next Winter to be toastier, I am not good at being cold, I’m like a dormouse that goes into hibernation and sleeps if my body temperature gets too low.

When we arrived, the previous owners left a huge file, all about its history, previous owners and how it worked as a mill. It’s incredible to believe how many people inhabited this house at certain points – and yet I’ve heard no ghosts so far!

As well as the beauty and character of this house, it’s brought us new ways of living. The basement tends to be commandeered by the teenagers, with friends over, band practice and very loud karaoke sessions. It’s nice to see this happen where we lived before, we were out in the middle of nowhere and they didn’t have as much opportunity to socialise.

There are various places for me and the hubs to work, and recently I’ve created a little yoga room in the small spare room in the mill end.

Now, I take time to go out into the garden often, and notice what’s new, listen to the river and take photos of the flowers. This huge green space is so good for me, just being under the trees on the bench at the bottom of the garden makes me feel instantly calmer. From the kitchen balcony windows I watch the birds gather on the feeders in the plum tree.

A highlight of last year was watching the Holmfirth fireworks display at the park just across the river, from our terrace. We invited friends and family round; I cooked chilli and jacket spuds and we all wrapped up warm for the display.

It was a real ‘pinch me’ moment on a clear night with the moon and the stars in the background, everyone’s smiling faces upturned to the streams of light and listening to the crackles, and it solidified to me that all the stress had been worth it.

Being so close to Holmfirth centre is also a blessing for me. It is a vibrant, creative community with many artists and writers and I’m proud to now be part of that. There’s many cafés, restaurants, and bars here and I often meet friends, or work from them with a good coffee in hand or run creative workshops and my small business group from them – it’s lovely to have that freedom and social company.

And then of course there are the walks, Holmfirth is part of the Holme Valley, and we are right at the bottom by the river. Either side we have high, rolling hills, including the famous Holme Moss, where  even the Tour De France cyclists took their time to ride up the windy bends to reach the top, and the breath-taking views.

Being close to the river has breathed new life into my nature geek brain, the herons are famous on the river here, and I’ve spotted dippers and one kingfisher so far – I’m desperate to see more but they are smaller than you think!

The kids are loving life here too, our son plays on the nearby basketball court and skate park or heads to the Picturedrome to play with his band on open mic night, our daughter works at an Italian restaurant and meets her mates for brunch, they needed this kind of social life and independence after the restrictions of lockdown.

The vibrant community of Holmfirth and stunning walks are the reasons we moved here.

I know we are incredibly lucky to live in this special house, and when I open my bedroom curtains on a morning, I still can’t quite believe we are here. Occasionally I feel like this is too good to be true, or a little guilty about it, but we both work hard, and we have been through rough times just like everyone else, as I head towards that big birthday milestone next year, I feel like this is now our time to flourish as a family in this crazy space and build lasting, magical memories.

Soon we will be going on holiday to Mexico, and I can’t wait, but I also know when we return, I’ll be happy to get back to the home we have made in Holmfirth – I guess the clue was always in the name wasn’t it?

Until next time amigos,

Juliet x