Finding a place to live

Aerial view of Lincoln Cathedral and my new home

It is a spectacular location, looking across manicured lawns to the East face of the cathedral. If you look closely, you can see there's an island of lawn between my front door and the road, and unless there's been a real downpour, I make a point of walking on the grass when I am heading off anywhere, - to the Post Office, to the little supermarket or to the bus-stop. I walk on the grass, and on across the sward towards the Chapter House because it springs like no turf I have ever known. It's like walking on a pile of judo mats, or a trampoline, or even a bouncy castle. Every ten days or so the contract gardeners arrive with mowers big enough for Lords or Wimbledon, and harvest  a lorry load of grass-cuttings. The striped pattern is a matter of pride - even for the verger whose part-time job is to mow the lawn that we three tenants share in our secluded, walled garden. The Duchess of Cambridge would have been safe sunbathing here; nobody overlooks the herb-garden rockery or the overgrown border that will be my challenge in the coming weeks.

I fell in love with the property from the moment I saw the brochure. 

I'd been looking for weeks: dozens of 2up/2down properties tucked away in the back streets, with front doors that opened straight from the sitting room onto the pavement. 

Several had been thoughtfully and carefully modernised, but it was the size of the rooms that pulled my shoulders down in despair and sent shivers of doubt through my whole body. I could not imagine how I could ever entertain, or where I could shelve my books, or display my pictures, or sit at my computer and become a wordsmith once again. As for the kitchens... They were designed for normal people who buy meals, not a retired chef who buys only ingredients. The average tenant would simply want to pop something under the grill or into the microwave.

But this property had a generous kitchen, newly fitted out with space for a large fridge/freezer, a washing machine, a compact dishwasher and even an under-counter freezer so that I could cook my favourite dishes in quantity and have space to store portions for a later date.

As I pored over the property details, one thing stood out: there was space! The living room was 6.5m x 5m and the bedroom was 5m x 4.5m. You just don't get a 17ft sitting room in a 1-bedroom apartment, unless you are very fortunate and come across a property which quite obviously must have your name on it. 

And that's what I thought. But there are two parties involved in a tenancy agreement, and things didn't go quite as smoothly as I had anticipated.

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