Our Great Escape to the Country

 

Christine & Tony strolling in Hyde Park before the Great Escape

As you now know, Christine and I consider ourselves to be in “refinement” (not retirement) but we have most certainly retired from the business that we’ve owned and operated together for more than 30 years.

But we think we’ve been “in refinement” since a long time ago - refinements meaning changes we’ve made (both big and small) that have enhanced our lives.

A major life-refinement for us was a relatively recent one - our escape to the country, or more specifically, to The Cotswolds.

For more than a quarter of a century we had been living and working in the heart of central London.  Our property was in South Kensington a few minutes walk from Kensington Palace and The Royal Albert Hall.  

We lived in a flat within a building constructed in about the mid-1800s.  

The property also contained our company’s premises.  It was a fantastic set-up that worked brilliantly for us. The ideal address to impress our corporate clients and such a convenient, exciting place to live and work.

Of an evening, we’d regularly walk to the theatre or to any number of fabulous restaurants. 

Why would we ever want to move?

When we got to our 60s, we did talk more about one day moving to the country but we were too happy with our life in London to make any serious plans to leave.  

But in the first quarter of 2020, the pandemic hit.

It was the push we needed to make us break the status quo; otherwise, I think we’d still be living in Kensington.  Without that crisis, we think we’d have stayed in London far longer than was good for us.

As we look back, we realize that we clearly needed that push.  Now we wish we’d made the move sooner.

For all sorts of reasons, we now LOVE living in the beautiful, Cotswolds village of Elmley Castle.

Watch out for episode 2 of our podcast, Refinement NOT retirement. Christine and I will share with you the story of this crucial refinement, our escape to the country - it's right here