Happy New Year (with extra ‘happy’)

Happy new year everyone!

It has been over four weeks since my move to the coast and I couldn’t be happier.

It feels like this place and I were meant to be.

I have lived in lovely places before, of course, but never a place that I utterly ADORE. There’s something very special about this area.

This is the view that greats me at the end of my road every morning (it’s one of two millponds just 30 seconds’ walk from my front door):

This is where the town meets the sea (5 minutes from my front door):

And this is the view from one of the many gorgeous coastal walks I can do (yup, you guessed it, just minutes from my front door):

I can honestly say that moving here has been one of the best things I have EVER done! And yet I procrastinated for years and years.

There’s a lesson in that for me.

I am happier here, no question about it. I love the cosy, little house I am renting which hugs me whenever I walk through the door.

I love my new home town with its Georgian houses teetering on the edge of Chichester Harbour.

I love the friendly neighbours and shopkeepers who stop to chat and smile and say hello.

I love the slower pace of life and how it feels like I can b-r-e-a-t-h-e at last.

And I love the active, outdoor lifestyle that beckons to me from my doorstep.

Last weekend I woke to a beautiful sunrise. So I did what I would never have done in my previous home in Surrey; I threw on some clothes and headed for the sea front with my camera…

If I could sum up what living here feels like, the word I would use would be ‘magical’.

I really believe that magical things could happen here…