Hello and welcome to my blog

Well I have finally got round to setting up the blog I promised I would keep when we set out on our big adventure three months ago.  I hope to keep family and friends up to date with our new life and post lots of photos of what we are up to.  The hardest part of leaving was saying goodbye to all of you, the last few weeks have been exciting and mostly very happy but sometimes sad thinking of everyone we love, especially at Christmas.  We said goodbye to Grace our eldest daughter just before New Year as she decided that she wanted to go back to her old life and her friends in the UK.    Now we are looking forward to our next move, into our own place.  We have been living in a very smart rented house in Brightwater, but there's no place like your own and we can't wait for our move to Wakefield on Valentines day.  We plan to grow our own food, keep chickens and possibly a couple of sheep (we can't afford a mower!)  It sounds easy when you say it quickly but I'm sure we are heading for a pretty steep learning curve!  We came here for a complete change of lifestyle, all prompted by an increasing dis-ease with a capitalist throw away culture and a desire to spend more time together and reconnect with the simple things in life.    Some big changes have happened already, I am enjoying the first school summer holidays at home with my kids in six years!  The weather has been great, Nelson has a reputation for being sunny which it has certainly lived up to so far.  We go to the beach a couple of times a week and we are cycling everyday to take care of  Minty, a lovely eight year old mare we are fostering until April.  Life is good.