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From a Weekend Retreat to
a House in the Country
A thirty-year long learning curve.
When we bought a country retreat thirty years ago, we wanted to have a place to relax. We both had stressful jobs and needed the weekend to refuel for the week ahead. This is about our journey from being Big City people to learning how to embrace a country lifestyle.
We bought an old farmhouse (built in the 1850's); we have hay fields and woods, streams, bridges and a long driveway. Our neighbors are far away. We are so far away that we have to go to the post office to get our mail. For us it has been paradise.
Being city people, we are used to calling the super when the bathtub is clogged or the faucet is dripping. However, in our paradise, we were on our own! We had the choice to call a plumber or do it ourselves. We were young and full of energy and tackled house problems with a lot of determination. After having changed a washer in a faucet, we felt proud and on top of things. Slowly we took on bigger projects and realized that we actually enjoyed them.
Situations regarding the hay fields, woods, streams, bridges and the driveway were quite different. We talked to neighbors, asked for advice and learned by making mistakes.
All in all, it has been a wonderful learning and growing experience! It has made us much more well-rounded, knowledgeable, satisfied and happy. We want to share those learning experiences (sometimes painful, sometimes humorously ignorant) with you. We would like this to be an open forum for everyone to learn from our experiences, share their own and collaborate with their own tips and advice.
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