Devon
Why we left London for a mill in Devon
Team Selgars · · 1 min read
We were trying to solve a specific problem
We had both lived in a large coliving house in Stockholm and then found ourselves in a flat in London with a dog and no community. We tried to rebuild it in the city — the building, then a bigger house with friends — and kept hitting the same ceiling. The countryside was where the space finally existed.
What was harder than expected
Old buildings, which cost more and take longer than any estimate. The isolation before there were people here, which was real. And the first winter, which was genuinely difficult and which we would not sugar-coat to anyone considering the same move.
What was better
Everything about having space to offer. When you have room, you can invite people, and inviting people turns out to be most of what we wanted. That is more or less the whole business model and also the whole point.
Would we advise it
Only if you want the people part. If you want quiet and a view, a cottage does that for a tenth of the effort. The work only makes sense if the reason for it is a house full of people.