When it comes to homes, I’m not good at letting go and moving on.

At 18 I left my family home for university without a backwards glance. Thereafter, life was a bit of a blur of flat shares, of other people’s colour schemes and furnishings. Attachment was to the people and the parties, never the bricks and mortar.

That all changed when my boyfriend and I bought our first flat and poured heart, soul and all our spare cash and energy into doing it up. The day we moved, he went ahead with the removal men to open up our new house and I stayed behind to clean picture marks from walls and give the kitchen a last polish – you see, I really liked the couple moving in and our home had to look its best for them. I also needed time to cry.

It was a hard relationship to walk away from and devastating when the new owners chopped down the wisteria we left in flower. But the new, bigger space soon became home. We added two children and when it came to move, they cried too. We didn’t go far – just a few doors away, in fact – and had to watch our old home being deconstructed. I liked these buyers less, a lot less, especially when they ripped out our very-expensive-bought-to-last carpet and left it outside in the snow. Even our six-year old was ‘but it’s like new’ shocked at the profligacy.

We moved again and time has marched on. The once-new carpet is showing threads and it’s time to consider our options. The last child has just gone to university and we are left rattling around in the home extended to accommodate growing teenagers and their drinking buddies.

There’s no manual for coping with an empty nest. My husband suggests doing Airbnb, ‘because we’d meet interesting people’. Would he do the laundry? I don’t think so. A lodger? Do we really want to clear a shelf in the fridge? No, I think it’s time to reinvent life. Show we’re not too old for wild late-night parties like the kids throw (and think keep secret) whenever we go away.

There again, our family memories are stored here. So perhaps we’ll winter on the sofa watching catch-up TV. Planning the next move can wait until spring or summer, or maybe autumn... I can’t begin to tell you how I’ll cry when the time comes to lock the door on that home of happy memories for the very last time.

SL, 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.