Finally arrived in Dorset

[gazza1960]

What started as a simple house move 3 months ago expanded into a stressful chest tightening episode that having not experienced previously was a life change that I won't be doing again,so the 5 year stop over in dorset before moving to Dartmouth in Devon I can assure you will not ...I repeat not be happening....so this is it Gazza...Wimborne Dorset it is.......stress over.you've landed fella....even the solicitors on our moving day turned the screw mid journey down the M3 ......there's me rallying the moving company lorries plus 3 cars full in Fleet services into a defensive cavalry formation as the approaching Indians gathered around ready to slaughter us with bad news arrows......every 10 mins another bad news arrow would head our way in the shape of phone calls saying that the move had been halted due to funding problems with 2 others in the 7 family chain.
45 heart wrenching minutes ticked by as each player in the horrible game got their act together so finally we were allowed to get the wagons rolling to Dorset.

So here we are 7 days later,surrounded by 100,s of boxes,mum is settling in thank God,ok her shoulder is tolerable and physio is planned shortly and hopefully will suffice but if not a full shoulder
Replacement is on the cards......still she seems happy after her move.....the fear of her home in Staines being flooded is now a memory and for him upstairs to spare her what turned out to be 200 yds from disaster....we're ever so greatful.
Judy has just finished her first week of commuting 2 plus hours to heathrow and has come home each night flagging....bless her .
So CV,s are being typed for local work as I want her near us and not sitting in motorway queues
Knack earring herself.
Our kitchen is in disarray,as we have got to do a partial re build to allow for new appliances
But I tell you what it's amazing just what you can cook without an oven,the slow cooker,microwave,wok,plus my fishing gas cooker has furnished us with something edible each day
And although a challenge it's been fun.
The multi fuel burner has been a joy to use,the lick of flame in a darkened rom each night has warmed us and relaxed us all in one so what a bonus that has been.

Me...well I'm so happy.....on our first day here we stood in the garden and watched 2 buzzards fly over that are nesting in the forested area behind our back fense,and if that wasn't good enough we stood there and 4 long tailed tits alighted on the feeder  6 feet away and you know what it was worth all the stress just for that golden moment to welcome us to the countryside in our new home in Dorset.

Gazza

[gazza1960]

[tricia]

Welcome to the south west Gazza, Jude and Mum. Sounds like you are enjoying it already!


Tricia 

[rosebud]

 All the very best to you all, hope all goes very well for you & you settle in quite soon so you can enjoy the summer. .
Regards Rosebud

[Digeroo]

Glad it all went well in the end.  Nice to hear you are enjoying Dorset.  I think I am also technically in the south west, so welcome from me too.

I find I have been using the oven less and less it is rather expensive, and a bind to clean.

Got one of those new fangle  halogen things, cooks fast and they you simply wash the whole glass dish up.  Presume you could actually put it in the dishwasher, but not much else would go in as well.  For really quick cooking I use the pressure cooker and then brown it off with the halogen.  Makes lovely moist roast chicken that way.

I really think that the solicitors do make the stress worse, why one earth do they not sort of the finances will in advance.

[pumkinlover]

Glad you overcame all the obstacles and got there.
Like Digeroo says - surely the date you have for moving should be sorted when everything else is in place!

[Yorkshire Lass]

Glad you're settling in. Have missed your recipes. Get the oven sorted and you'll be good to go again!

[peanuts]

So good to ear from you Gazza.  Wishing you many happy years in Dorset all together.  Your M3 calvacade sounded a real nightmare.  We only moved in Herts 7 years ago, but had the same situation, with the solicitors ringing us in between houses with  big doubts - so I know a little of how you felt!
All the best, and get those recipes at least planned in your head.

[BarriedaleNick]

Sounds great despite the hassle of selling up and a long chain.
Dorset would be my ideal place to live - just need to find a smallholding/guest house/nursery or some small business to run and Ill be off!

[macmac]

What a lovely post Gazza I hope you all settle in well xx

[Jayb]

Sorry to hear you had such a stressful move, but glad you are all settling in, sounds like it will be home in no time 

[Paulines7]

I am pleased that despite the hassle with the solicitors, you are now enjoying life in Dorset.  I hope Jude finds something a bit nearer soon.  It must be a nightmare commuting to Heathrow each day, so I hope she finds something soon.

If you will be without a conventional oven for a long time, I too recommend a halogen oven.  I have an Andrew James one and it was about £50 to buy.   It cooks bacon rashers and chops really well and crisps up jacket potatoes that have been in the microwave.  I have just sent off for the air fryer attachment.  I am sure you will find it useful even when you have a large oven installed.  There are three of us here and the halogen is roomy enough to take 3 large pork chops.  I use it a lot to grill things as it is so easy to clean and is very economical.

I wish you all much happiness in your new home.   

[MervF]

Welcome to Dorset Gazza.   I am just down the road from you in Poole but my lottie is in Wimborne.   We moved down from the Croydon area just over 40 years ago and have not regretted the move.   Hope you settle in ok.

[gazza1960]

Cheers one and all for the welcome,we have been equally welcomed by 3 neighbours which has been nice,our immediate neighbour only moved in themselves 2 days ago and I've already traded his carpentry skills for our kitchen for 4 x 5 foot camellia bushes that's residing in what will be our soft fruit area,,,,,don't hang about me.....you don't ask you don't get.,

Blimey I've just googled that andrew james halogen cooker,what a piece of kit for £50 me thinks that will be  just the job to get us through our period of having no kitchen oven.
Can't find one in stores though it appears to be ebay or amazon the only suppliers.

Well can't promise a small holding barriedalenick but there is a stunning 3bedroom bungalow just gone on sale opposite me .

Gazza

[macmac]

Gazza I agree about  the halogen, I cook whole chickens and whole legs of lamb and they are lovely. I have my big oven on today first time since Christmas, and that's just because making quiche and it doesn't work well in halogen

[gazza1960]

Nice one MervF when I enquired about a plot dorset council told me there was a 10 year wait hense me ending up with a reasonable garden in our home as a trade off.

Wimborne is about 10 mins from me mate,when the dust settles at home I'd luv to pop along and have a cuppa with you fella on your plot.

Take care

Gazza

[MervF]

I look forward to that Gazza.   Which side of Wimborne are you?   I am just north of Poole - between Poole and Wimborne.

[gazza1960]

I guess I'm about due east Merv in a small village called Three Legged Cross,blink and your through it..

Yer ok,if you haven't got the necessaries I can always bring my ever reliable fishing cooker to boil us up a brew fella.

I'll say sorry now for not being as green fingered as most on here but I try to make up for it in enthusiasm......I grow a mean enthusiasm.

Weather looks good this coming week for some serious potting on but it's the last week of the course fishing season so I'll be drowning maggots instead.

[ACE]

Weather looks good this coming week for some serious potting on but it's the last week of the course fishing season so I'll be drowning maggots instead.

Gotta get your priorities right. Next weekend perhaps for the garden. Although the sea is warming a bit and the Bass will be starting to run. Get on down to Hurst Point for the biggies. Hermit crabs are the killer bait so you will need to get down to a local pier with a baited dropnet. No luck with hermits, the small calamari will see you alright.

I fish right opposite at Fort Albert, so take your binoculars and give us a wave.

[galina]

What a stressful time for all of you.  How awful! - but glad you have arrived and the boxes can wait!

So enjoy your new home, the area and hope Jude will find a good job fast too to end that commute from hell.  Also wish you good new neighbours and that your mother will get the full use of her shoulder back soon too.

If you've got the skill and the imagination - and you've got it in spades! - you don't need much equipment to be a first rate cook. 

Enjoy the rest of the coarse fishing season.  But on't forget to sow some seeds too 

[gazza1960]

Yes Ace,I guess hurst is about 30 mins from me now,although I've got lazy and always get the ferry from keyhaven and walk back along the shingle although it's a killer.

For me the best Bass bait at hurst point is live joeys,I like to feather a few out and I fish them amongst the broken wooden groyns although I've heard of bigguns I've only had them to 5lb
So some tasty flanks go in the freezer,

Yes mate,I'll wave across to you and if it's a real small neap tide I'll take me boat across the channel but me thinks my small 14 footer might be outgunned by the rip tide tween the estuary and the island.

Gazza