Our little house by the sea

We've driven to England and back today to sign the lease and collect the keys to our new house. The journey in both directions was slow due to roadworks and then there was disruption at the Euro Tunnel on our return journey, and all trains were running about 30 minutes late.

Anyway, we arrived at the Estate Agents only slightly later than planned and Louis was extremely excited - I'm sure he could smell the sea air! He's normally very wary of people he doesn't know and yet he instantly took to everyone in the agents and had them all fussing over him. The manager has even offered to look after him if we need someone, and has given us the details of her vet, and her friend who's a dog groomer.

Then when we got to the house we found the Landlord had left us a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine in the fridge as a welcome gift. Louis enjoyed exploring the garden and even found a ball to play with while we sat and had some lunch. This view is taken from the garden bench, looking towards the house, and you can see the numerous palm trees. It really is a little tropical haven by the sea! If you're interested you can see the front of the house in my blipfolio.

We took a car load of things which we didn't want going in the removal truck and once we'd unpacked and taken some measurements, we went down to the beach. It's been extremely hot today and there wasn't even a sea breeze so we let Louis have a paddle in the sea, on the dog friendly beach before heading back to the tunnel.

We're back in Belgium now but probably won't get home until about 11pm so I'm blipping while Alan's driving - if I don't get to comment tonight I'll catch up with you tomorrow.

As I'm writing this I've just heard that Prince William and Kate have had a baby boy - fingers crossed it's called Arthur and then I win my bet!