House-hunting in County Down

While in the United States Marguerite and Jude decided that when they would return home they would like to live in the countryside, in the County Down countryside that is.  Over a few days they went for a look around.










But first - today they had Riona with them as they took Ben for a scoot around Lady Dixon Park in Belfast.













Nice pose!















Riona has a wee smell of the roses in Lady Dixon Park.   




  

Marguerite, Ben and Riona having fun in the park.















Riona was such great fun in Boston when she was over for Ben's baptism and now it's great too have her company more often. 

She's still a complete melter though!











Riona will always take part in whatever is going on ....... like flying Ben's kite .......













....... and taking Ben for a slide ..........















....... and teaching him to play football.















Ben giggles as he flies solo on his swing. 

Two melters!

Then they headed out in search of a new home for Ben, Marguerite and Jude.











They are keen on the countryside just outside the town of Crossgar and so they began a month long search.

There was this Estate Agent .......













....... and that Estate Agent ......
 













There were houses in need of development .....














..... and there were nice houses that had just been built ......









....... there were great houses on the edge of town .....











....... and more great houses in small developments just outside town ........













....... there were gorgeous houses set in totally rural areas .......









....... like the charmingly named Nutgrove Road ......














........ and more great houses in beautiful surroundings.









Some of the country houses were very big, with loads of room for Ben (and Jude) to plays sports.  Like this one perhaps on Teconnaught Road .......












....... which Marguerite did take a shine to.















It was set in a lovely area indeed and Marguerite wasted no time in quizzing the owner about this and that.














Where's she off to now?  Marguerite has a noisy around upstairs.














It has to be said ...... this was a nice house.

But was it the one ........












.......... or maybe it would be this house. 











 
 
There was just so much to consider.  Things like was there a good nursery school for Ben (and bigger schools for the longer term too of course) in the area.

Marguerite, Jude and Ben visited Friends nursery to check it out and get a wee tour.  You see buying a house is not just about the building itself, there are so many other things to consider.  Nursery, school, public transport, local sports, shops, pubs, restaurants, etc. 

 

So as you can imagine this has all been a big time-consuming deal.  Getting 5 Hamill Park in order was always the first target after returning from America but once that was achieved the house was placed on the market.  So then viewings commenced.









 
And every day for a few weeks thoughts were all about things like:  'will the house sell? 'what price will it achieve? 'which house is the one to buy? 'how much of a bid should be submitted for the new house?

Even when walking Ben down to his school these thoughts would be floating around in Marguerite and Jude's heads.







In the middle of all that Marguerite and Jude tried to squeeze in some time to themselves every now and again, like tonight when they left Ben with his Granny and Granda Crossan and went to Shu restaurant in Belfast for a totally class meal.










 
A couple of nights later and Marguerite and Jude have taken Ben out for dinner too.  Here he is having a real good auld giggle at this wee puppet. 

They even squeezed in some wee walks around Belfast.

















Like today when Ben and Jude were all dolled up in similar clothes ....
















....... and they were looking for fish in this wee river. 

On one of their trips down the County Down Countryside Marguerite, Jude and Riona called into .........














.... the old Mill at Ballydugan.   What a beautiful building and what gorgeous grounds.  Imagine getting married in this place, wouldn't that just be amazing? 












Well it just so happens that this is where Marguerite and Jude's wedding was held on 01st Sep 2007.

Riona remembers that day well as she was a flower girl.















A couple of ice creams in Crossgar helped keep things ticking over nicely.















The house at Nutgrove Road was quite impressive too.

 

 

Just like a couple of the other houses Marguerite did take a shine to this one too.















I think she liked this porch.  Wha?















Something like this, with all these grounds, would be nice, very nice indeed. 
















But which house will they get?  The search has not finished yet, though it should soon and so and update with hopefully some exciting news can be expected in the coming weeks.