Growing up with a parent in the property industry has left me unable to empathise with the notion of a childhood home: the emotional pull of one particular house is a completely alien concept when your formative years were spread across numerous addresses.

Different things happened at different postcodes and I have amazing memories from each of the homes I have lived in during my 22 years. In my family we use street names to reference particular parts of our lives.

As a consequence, I have never experienced the emotional repercussions that some do when moving. Receiving the news that we’d run our course at a particular home just never seemed a big deal or distressing in any way. On the contrary, it was something my sister and I would anticipate and look forward to – a new place to explore, new neighbours to befriend, and a new chapter of our lives to begin.

An instance that perfectly displays my family’s attitude came when I returned home from my second term at University – that it was a different home from the one I had left the term before amazed my friends but barely fazed me, highlighting how immune I had become to the whole moving process, feeling no need to be part of it, merely excited at the prospect of new beginnings.

Of course, some things remained the same wherever we lived: the paintings that hung on our walls, the rugs that carpeted our floors and the smells of familiar meals being cooked. So although the location of ‘home’ changed frequently, I believe it was these consistencies gave me the continuity and security that many derive from the physical structure of a home.

LM, London

Further information

What makes a house a home and why does it matter so much? Our new series, 'Moving Stories', inspired by Savills new advertising campaign, explores the complex relationship between home and home-owner with funny, sad and bittersweet reflections on moving out, moving in and moving on.

We invite you to submit your own Moving Stories and we will donate £50 to Dreams Come True for every one we publish on Savills UK Blog. We'll also make a donation for every story submitted for consideration.