Winter in Argyll
House hunting, challenging weather, trusting the universe, and end of year plans
The house hunt continues, kinda…
In our last post, we had just viewed a house, put in an offer, and didn’t have it accepted. Since then, we viewed another house in town which, although the house itself was move-in ready, the outside garden was a bit too small for what we would like to do.
With the holidays approaching, we’ve definitely seen a slow down in new properties coming onto the market. Because of that, last week we decided to view some properties that we hadn’t considered before - villas. These are flats or homes within a larger Victorian building, which means you’ll have neighbours either above or below you. They usually have large gardens, sometimes shared but often divided for private use for each villa owner.
As I was on the estate agent’s website setting up viewings for a couple of villas, I noticed the semi-detached Victorian home that we put an offer in on last month was back on the website. Speaking with the estate agent, they confirmed that the sale fell through due to a title issue with the property lines and the house, which is called Ronachan, was back on the market.
Long story short, we viewed the two villas, one which was lovely and a great in-town location but a bit small for us, and the other one was just not suitable at all due to the state of the home. We then went back to Ronachan to view the new property lines, decided we were okay with it and still liked the house, and put an offer in. This time it was accepted!
We have a verbal offer accepted and now we’re working with a solicitor to get a written offer in, which will include stipulations like getting a damp report and electrical inspection due to the age of the property. I’m hopeful we will have the written offer in and accepted this week, which will take the house off the market while further inspections are carried out. If all goes to plan, we may have keys by early February.
But there’s a lot to happen between now and then so we’re trying to not get too excited until we’re on firmer footing with the offer. We look forward to sharing more details once we can!
Challenging weather
It’s winter in Scotland so as you can imagine, it’s very wet and dark. The days are short with the sunrise at 8:45am and sunset at 3:45pm. We’ve also had two named storms in the past four weeks.
Storm Bert brought snow and blizzard conditions for about two days. Dunoon and much of the Cowal peninsula lost power for 30 minutes or so. We ran out of wood for the log burner and couldn’t get into town until the storm cleared so it was a bit chilly here.
Storm Darragh brought lots of rain to the area but caused severe flooding in England and Wales.
The greatest effect of the storms on us is just keeping us more isolated. I made the mistake of riding the e-bike into town on the last day of Storm Bert and that was miserable but had to be done in order to get firewood. With Benmore Botanic Garden closed for the season, and the schools now out, the bus service out here has been reduced to next to nothing, making the bike our only reliable transportation and, as I found out riding in Storm Bert, even that can have limitations if the weather is bad enough.
But after every storm there seems to be a day or two of clear weather, and I’ve tried to take advantage of that and get out on the bike or on a walk to continue exploring the area. I’ve been making a bit of content for the socials to show what we experience and maybe inspire some people to come ride with us. I’ve shared these reels in the local Dunoon Facebook group and gotten great reactions, as well as a few thousand views!
Trusting the universe
If there’s something I’m learning and having to live in this season of life, it’s to trust the universe. And that’s a phrase I’ve probably thrown around for a few years, but we’re really having to live it right now and release control, or the idea of control, from our daily lives. So much of what we’re living through we have no control over.
For example, in the house hunting process we have no control over what houses come up on the market. Now that we have a verbal offer in, we have to be patient as we wait for the written offer to be put in. It’s the week before Christmas and everyone is winding down for the year - both us and the seller have to be patient and trust things will fall into place.
I think about how things can be different in the US, the expectation for instant answers and responses. Having just sold a house in the US, the buyers and their agent were sending emails, expecting responses and decisions to be made at all hours of the night, over the weekend, and the buyer’s agent was even negotiating while in the doctor’s office while she was sick. Our seller’s agent was working through the aftermath of Hurricane Helene with a tree down in her yard and no internet.
In the US, that behaviour is expected and praised as “hustling” and great customer service. In reality, I realize what we’re doing is just passing on anxiety. We take our anxiety and our impatience and pass it on to the next person instead of taking a moment and letting things be. Lance and I find ourselves saying to each other that if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. Or the oft used Scottish saying
Whit's fur ye'll no go by ye.
So we’re trusting the universe, and being grateful that we have a warm house to stay in, food in the cupboards, and our health. Slàinte!
End of year plans
TLDR; we don’t have any Christmas or New Years plans to speak of. We won’t be flying back to the US this year to visit with family since we’re only just getting settled here and the high cost involved.
We have been able to enjoy the Christmas festivities here by attending the Dunoon Christmas Market on the 30th of November. The high street was closed to car traffic and local vendors set up stalls selling arts and crafts, local meats and coffee, etc. They’ve also turned on the Christmas lights in town, which we saw that evening after attending a show at Dunoon Burgh Hall.
We went to the Cowal MTB Club Christmas night out on 13 December at the local pub. It was fun to catch up with some of the guys we’ve ridden with, meet a few we hadn’t met before, and I got to gab with lady riders of the club.
On Christmas Day, I’ll be joining the Cowal Bluetits for a Xmas Day dip in Loch Eck, and on Boxing Day (26 December) we’ll ride the trails with the MTB Club.
The Winter Solstice is almost here, and we’re looking forward to the days getting longer and the nights retreating.
Gratitude
Thank you to those who are helping us on our house buying journey, in particular the estate agents Waterside Property and our solicitor at Corrigall Black.
Mòran taing to our friends in Dunoon, especially Iain who has given me a lift into town a few times, helped cart off a ton of cardboard we had, and delivered some items to help with the icy days. Sara at The Dunoon Bothy Project for a lend of 2 e-bikes, chairing the Cowal MTB Club, and answering so many questions we have about the area and starting our business. Morag at Heal N Glen for ordering me hiking and MTB items, and lending a friendly ear as I gab away in her shop. Tony for lending me lights for my bike! Karen at Cowal K9 Care for training me to handle Brida better so that Brida can explore more with us.
What do you want to hear about from us?
My photos are famous 🤣
Looking forward to having you guys as neighbours 🚴♀️
So glad to hear about everything! You two are amazing! And it is true...
If it's for you, it'll not pass ye by! Love, Mom