Why move to Cyprus?  I have been asked this simple question many times but the answer is not that straight forward. But, here goes….

The answer has several parts which, put together, made our decision. John was getting more and more stressed with work and general life in the UK. The weather did not help either, it was terrible. Wind, rain, cold and just miserable. Then there was the fact that my sister had not long died. This was hard for me to come to terms with losing such a strong and formidable individual as Pat was. Life was not easy and we were not getting any younger.

We had often dreamed of retiring to the sun and initially thought of Lanzarote but prices there were going sky high. We started coming to Cyprus more and more. The prices were cheaper and the life style was good. So good that we decided to buy a penthouse apartment, that had spectacular views of the Mediterranean, to use as our future holiday base. It was going to be our first stepping stone onto the property ladder for when the day came for us to retire in the sun. But that was a long way off yet! Or was it?

Take a look at Peyia Sea View Penthouse – it is for sale.  For more info contact sue.horton@me.com

One night while sitting in front of the TV John said, ‘How would you feel about moving to Cyprus sooner rather than later?’ My immediate answer was no! I had two grandchildren (twins) that I adored and two grown children and ………

Over the next few weeks, John’s stress levels did not get any better. I was busy trying to help my daughter Rachel plan her wedding and reception in-between running a full time business to boot. Then John came home with bad news. One of his long standing clients had died a few days before his retirement date and….. once retired they were moving to Cyprus. All the plans made by the family for their Cyprus haven had gone up in smoke. That made me think again. I looked at John and thought ‘we may never see our retirement at this rate’!

That was when it all started. We agreed to put things into action but before we could tell the world I wanted to tell the children Rachel and Chris. Rachel was on her honeymoon so we agreed to hold fire until her return. However, it did not go quite to plan! Chris was happy for us both… perhaps he could see lots of future holidays in the sun but he was also genuinely pleased. Rachel was not so happy. She was loosing her mom! But… we could work through that couldn’t we? I was sure the whole family could benefit by our move to Cyprus.

The house went on the market together with two businesses and a business premises. We genuinely thought it would take time… lots of time to sell what we had. Think again!!

Within 11 days we had an offer of the asking price for the house. It happened to be a famous footballer who wanted to have a place near to the training ground he had been seconded to for 6 months. If anyone tells you it is impossible to sell a house from offer to keys in less than 6 weeks, well they are wrong. It took 12 days in total.

The two businesses sold within 3 weeks to another local company that was looking to expand and the premises within 4 weeks.

We were homeless and jobless within the month and absolutely no time to stop and think at all. I will admit that it was an extremely hard time for me personally. Having to pack up the house I loved and the thought of leaving behind the family was difficult to do. My sister Di came to lend a hand when she could but she did not live local but the offer and support was more than welcome. There was still too much to do and so little time, so many plans to make and decisions to work through and….. Most days I could be found packing boxes and sorting clothes in tears. But, I also thought about the life
style we could offer our children and especially grandchildren and the opportunities they could encounter. Cyprus certainly is a place for families.

We needed somewhere to live. The internet was next to useless, every property I liked had apparently sold. The only answer left was to actually fly over and take a look ourselves. John was working hard so I asked Rachel and my best friend Tracy (and niece) to fly over with me. John’s only specification was that the house needed to be in walking distance of a coffee shop (bar) and near to Limassol. He knew he would need to continue working as an accountant and this area appeared to be our best option. Limassol is a mixture of Tourist and local people and businesses were thriving.

On our third day in Cyprus we had found ‘the house’. It was in a village called Pyrgos and had 4 times more land around the house then any we had seen so far. The decor was contemporary, the house had 4/5 bedrooms and the price was right. Rachel and Tracy agreed that this was the house for me and it was agreed to contact the owner and put down a deposit immediately before someone else did. One problem on the horizon…. John had no idea.

I called him that night and said ‘Thought you should know that I have bought a house but don’t worry you will love it”!

Come back soon for the next instalment………. Life in Cyprus.