While not every property owner is in a tearing hurry to sell, I knew I daren’t even start looking for a new home in the country until I had the money in the bank. This is what I did to speed up the process.

I knew it was time to move on when the youngest of my four grown children started packing his belongings. I was gutted and relieved in almost equal measure. If mothering is heaven, then heaven is hard. But it was all I had known and loved beyond all else for almost forty years.