Our Move To Gloucestershire

The decision was made we'd agreed to move. I was offered a job at a terminal in one of the nicest parts of England in Gloucester. Being a driver I had a little knowledge of Gloucestershire County and could see advantages to living there, it had pretty villages and houses with thatched roofs, but Doreen who was reluctant to move anyway it was like going to the other end of the universe. The company Personnel Officer suggested I take her on a visit to show her around the area.
Another driver was also given the opportunity to work in Gloucester so he took his wife and son on a visit a couple of days before us, he painted a very black picture of the area when he came back and complained about the cost of the lodgings. He was the type of man who had very little confidence in himself and he said to me, “George, if you go there, stop at the same bed and breakfast that we stayed at it's very cheap”, the total cost with his family for the evening had come to just eighteen pounds. He had instructed the landlord not to include his son in the cost for fear of trouble with the company.
I called on the Personnel Officer with regard to our trip and he told me about the other driver and how he felt about his journey. He then said, “Look George, we want you to take your wife and family if need be, stay in a three star hotel, don't worry about the expense, have a decent meal and a really good night and we will pay for everything except drink”. His face wrinkled into a smile and he added “and between you and me, if you can get the hotel manager to somehow hide the drinks in the bill it will go in with the total cost, I'm not saying that's what you've got to do it is just a suggestion. If you'd like to drive down there tomorrow I'd like you to come back with a positive Yes”. We got up early the next morning, it was a typically cold and wet miserable day, not at all the kind of day to go looking around. We called at one or two estate agents to check house prices in the area then headed for the local tourist information office in search of a place to stay the night. It was no problem to the girl in the office who in no time had picked up the phone and made a reservation for us. Within minutes we were driving down a quiet country lane to the Burley Court Hotel. The Manager welcomed us with a cup of tea and looking around at the decor I wondered if I'd gone to the other extreme with regard to the cost but decided I'd worry about that later. After a wash and brush up we sat down to a lovely meal and a bottle of wine, we giggled between ourselves for this was the life for us. The following morning I went to the terminal and met the Manager then we spent the rest of the day looking around the area. The cost of a similar bungalow to our own was much more expensive than on Teesside however our first impressions were good. I saw the Personnel Officer when I returned and expressed my concern at the cost of property in and around Gloucester. I was told that the Company was not in the business of upgrading our home but if I found a similar place to the one I owned then they would be prepared to help.
The following week we set off taking our caravan to act as a base, we drew a circle on the map showing a fifteen miles radius of the terminal and in that week we visited every estate agent in that circle. Each evening we sat and checked out the many property brochures, it was a nightmare trying to find a place that we could afford. We visited a number of properties that were nothing like the information we'd been given and after five days of wandering around we were both downhearted and fed up. We were to spend our final day at Tewkesbury and we were on our way home when we decided we'd look at one final bungalow on the outskirts of the town. We'd made arrangements to view but dense fog made the property very difficult to find, when we finally found it and as soon as we entered Doreen said, “This is the one, it's got the same amount of room as ours back home and it's roughly the same size. Yes, I'll settle for this”. The price was twelve thousand pounds, more than the one we were leaving so it was up to the Personnel Officer. I asked the estate agent for a letter to back up my claim, they gave it and I went along to Personnel with a take it or leave it attitude as it wasn't my fault if the company wanted me to move to a more expensive area. He complained about the extra, the difference between ours and the twelve thousand pound. I told him that we'd searched for five days looking for something similar to our own and I suggested that he might like to find a place for us then “WE” would consider whether to accept it or not. A few days later we got word from the Company that they would be prepared to help pay the increase in our mortgage. Later it turned out to be not such a good deal after all. We visited on a foggy day and failed to notice the main railway line running at the end of the lane, also the factory at the back of the property which belonged to the neighbours. We returned home to Skelton happy in the thought that we'd found a place to live but our hearts were heavy with the thought of leaving family and friends.