From my earliest years, the pink farmhouse on the hill evoked fond memories of my grandparents and the frequent trips to visit them. The Aga, focal point of the kitchen, was as much a refuge for lambs during lambing and cold nights as it was for cooking on, while the lone seat in the corner of the sitting room, where no one but my grandfather would sit and tell stories of his earlier life, never moved. Often I used to explore the house like so many young children like to do, treading softly for fear of disturbing either grandparent and feeling dwarfed by clocks and tables and chairs. 

As the years went by, I would still try to visit, but was distracted by one thing or another, as young teenagers are. Yet the house would always be at the back of my mind, somewhere as a place of calmness where I could escape to.

When the news came that my grandfather had died and that my family and I would be moving into the farmhouse, it was, of course, a shock. My grandmother’s home of 35 years was to become someone else’s, albeit family members, while she was to move to a smaller cottage not so far away. Still in my young teens, I can remember leaving my old house one morning for school, and returning later that day to the farmhouse. It felt like a home, just not ours. With so many memories, it was as if we were house sitting, without a blank canvas on which to put our mark.

It took a while to adjust to the new surroundings, to replace the old chair where my grandfather once sat, the items and belongings that had been etched in my memory and which brought back familiar stories. And in those early days I often felt in limbo and unsettled. But with time, came adjustment. The old memories made way for new ones and 15 years later the pink farmhouse on the hill is somewhere I now call home.

For my grandmother, the cottage became her new home; a place she made her own and where she lived peacefully until her final days.

TW, Monmouthshire

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.