Moving on to: a two-bedroom cottage in the Orkneys FROM: a semi in Liverpool
WHEN James White and his wife, Kathleen, decided to escape urban Liverpool they did not realise how far the search for a new home would take them.
The couple had a three-bedroom semi but yearned for a rural idyll, far from the hustle and bustle, high crime rates and pollution of city life.
They looked around Wales and other rural areas, but their quest eventually took them far from their housing estate in Liverpool 13 to a secluded, two-bedroom stone cottage on the remote Orkney island of Sanday.
Kathleen had travelled to the island and spotted Girban Cottage, which was on the market for £25,000. After some haggling, she managed to secure it for £20,000 cash.
"It is marvellous here," says Kathleen. "There are only a handful of cars, no road signs and there is no crime. You can go out and leave the doors open with money and cheque book left on the table, and they're still there when you get back. Neighbours just walk in and out and everyone is very friendly."
"It really is a beautiful way of life and we wish we had made the move 20 years ago," says James, 56, a former soldier.
Their semi in Liverpool was originally on the market for £65,000, but in the end they sold it for about £40,000 to move on. After paying off the mortgage, they were left with £23,000 to buy the Sanday cottage.
They are now about to move out of their cottage for four months while it is renovated with the help of £38,000 from the Orkney Islands Council, a grant that came with the sale. The Whites found that other benefits come with island life, including the opportunity to indulge their passion for animals. They have two dogs, Crystal and Jody, an African grey parrot called Jack, six hens, a goat called Aggy and a pet lamb, Billy. They also keep a tortoise, turkeys and cats.
Kathleen says she has always loved animals more than humans and surrounding herself with as many as possible was a childhood dream. And the animals have taken to island life just as well as their owners.
"We came with the dogs in the car and when we arrived we noticed an immediate effect," says James. "In Liverpool the dogs were tense, but here they are very calm and almost never bark."
