The new apartment is, to say the least, a huge improvement on what we had in Norwich. We're still on the ground floor, but that's about the only similarity!

The rooms are only about 1/3 furnished and not decorated at all. Before I take you into the apartment I thought I'd show you the building and immediate surroundings first.



In front of our apartment is a horseshoe shaped driveway. Directly across the street from one end of our horseshoe is this house. The small lane to the left of it winds down to a large park where the little river Itchen runs towards the city center. One of our living room windows looks out at this same view.





The other end of the horseshoe faces this row of old buildings. On the left is the Hyde parish hall and on the right (with the white walls), perhaps the most important building in our area, is Hyde Pub. The doorway to the pub is only about five feet high! The road between us and the other side is fairly narrow. If a car is parked on the side of the street, there's only room for one car to drive past at a time. These old English roads were not meant for modern vehicles.

With the presence of the parish hall, it would seem logical to have a church somewhere nearby. And we do, just around the corner.

Back on our patch - the center of the horseshoe facing the street is all trees and bushes. If you
turn your back to the street, this is the view. Our apartment is on the ground floor in the newer building to the right. Hyde House, to the left, is the pretty house whose garden is our address. Not sure how old the main house is but it is lovely!

We are loving the area and enjoying how green our surroundings are. Rich has been peering out the windows watching the birds and squirrels at their feeders. It is so nice to not have traffic driving past our living room window!

More photos coming soon!

~K