My Family: Four Generations In Chandler’s Ford

Why did my family choose to move to Chandler’s Ford?

My mum relocated from Cardiff where she had run the large family home on her own since she unfortunately lost her husband. The rest of the family had gradually moved out of Wales and returned to Cardiff to visit for our lovely family gatherings.

But we could see that living in a large house on her own for the benefit of a few family gatherings a year was crazy.

Four generations now living in Chandler’s Ford

I wanted to move from Wiltshire to be near my grandchildren who live here, so my mum and I bought a house together in Chandler’s Ford. It has its challenges but works really well most of the time. The rest of the family are mainly in the London area so they can now visit us more often as it’s closer.

The train from Eastleigh to Waterloo only takes one and a half hours!

So we have gone from zero to four generations living in Chandler’s Ford in the last 5 years!

Getting involved with Chandler’s Ford community

I feel I am going to be here for a while and having more spare time, intend to get involved with my local community – something I have not made time for before.

The children attend the local school just up the road so mum and I can pick them up quite often and we both adore being in their lives on a regular basis.

Family values

Family is very important to us. We hope our house will have frequent visits from all age groups – variety is the spice of life!

The next step is to make some alterations to the house and create a large kitchen / family room where we can all be together filling the house with laughter and fun.

We recently had a wood burner fitted. This is something mum has wanted for years, so we are looking forward to the winter and the smell of woodsmoke! This will remind me of four glorious years I spent on a narrow boat in Bath – I still miss it!

My mum, my daughter and I are also working for our Forever aloe vera business together.

Fundraising for Macmillan Cancer with Chandler’s Ford neighbours

Last week, my mum and I ran a coffee and cake morning for Macmillan Cancer at our home.

It was lovely to meet some local friends through the social media site Streetlife. It was also the first time mum and I had met almost all of our guests – almost a year in Chandler’s Ford and a charity event gave us the push we needed to invite our neighbours.

Thanks so much to all of you who visited us and donated so generously – we are so lucky to live in such a friendly neighbourhood!

There was chat and fun guessing how many hundreds and thousands were on the cake and which coffee had the double shot! Neighbours Mary and Phil guessed the closest and will be receiving their prizes soon!

Mum and I spent a few days baking and were really pleased with our spread – so much cake eaten and still the tins are full – my waistline is suffering!

My friend Lenka kindly brought her stained glass designs with her, which she lovingly crafts at home – no pieces were sold unfortunately but they were much admired. Maybe we’ll have another gathering near Christmas when people are looking for individual hand crafted presents.