or rejecting. Perhaps it’s a culmination of all the events and emotions that have happened to the occupants down the years, and sometimes the centuries. Whatever the reason, I knew when I moved into a nondescript two-bedroom semi on a bog-standard housing estate that the house felt warm and welcoming.

This was just as well, as I was moving in after a highly charged marital break-up. I hadn’t been there long when I received the surprise divorce papers. I wasn’t seeing enough of my beloved two-year-old son and my finances were shredded. During that period I did nothing to add to the sense of tranquillity in the house.

Two snippets will suffice. After my son had been to stay and I had taken him home again, I wandered into his room, took his little blanket which smelt of him back to my bed and eventually fell asleep with it wrapped round me. Another night I returned after some smart work evening where I’d pretended all was well, and just collapsed at the bottom of the stairs – later I realised I’d made a hideous mess of my suit with tears and snot and phlegm.

It wasn’t a good time and I worried it would upset the ghost. I knew there was a ghost as I’d often been aware of it at the bottom of the stairs, though it felt quite benign. A couple of years later a girlfriend calmly told me that she’d actually seen it but it was nothing to worry about. I guess it wasn’t bothered about my disrupting the harmony of the house.

By then the disruption was abating anyway. I had a herb garden against a warm wall, a cat who brought peace to the house (and unfortunately death to anything on four legs of any size), and my son and I were enjoying exploring the wood at the end of the garden. The pain and upset started to fade, just as the three main trees I could see, an ash, an oak and a thorn, helped the memory fade for the children in Kipling’s Puck of Pook’s Hill.

By the time it came to move on I felt the house was once again a warm and welcoming place, ready for the next occupants. Estate agents may not be able to quantify that, but to me it was important that I’d handed it on intact.

Graham Scott, journalist, author and co-founder of FellowHQ

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.