In this weeks blog we take a closer look at the early retirement house purchase that we have just made, we come through a stressful week at work as a consequence of an impromptu Ofsted inspection and we take time to reflect on our Quarter 2 progress towards our early retirement planning.
Our new house.
As we said in last weeks blog, we won the sealed bid for our new house in the Dales and it is fair to say that the hard work starts from here!
The house is in a beautiful and stunning hamlet just outside Settle which is one of the gateway market towns in the Dales. It is only a short distance from our favourite 3 peak mountains. The house is however a bomb of a project that is going to require a lot of work. It has no gas supply, runs a septic tank and has had little renovation since it was built in the 1960’s- all challenges to work with. It is going to require new kitchen, new bathroom, interior layout remodelling, new heating, new open fire, extensive electrical work (hopefully not a full rewire!), plastering work (again hopefully not a full re-plaster!), new interior and exterior doors, a new front porch and the garden needs a full revamp.
All of this considered- we absolutely love it and are so excited to get going. It is in a stunning location and has so much potential as our forever home. Our creative minds are buzzing with what we could do to make it our absolute dream home. This is the first time in our lives that we will be able to make a place our own with few compromises on design or budget.
Ofsted surprise.
After a pretty rough weekend with flu like symptoms (and a negative covid test!), the week was going so well up to 1100 on Monday morning when we got the Ofsted call at school, meaning that our school would be inspected over the following 2 days. We have been working really hard over the course of the last few years to get rid of our previous Ofsted rating of requires improvement and we were confident that we had done this, but when the call came it was still a shock!
The body and mind immediately goes into overdrive and the stress responses take over. As much as I understand these physiological feelings, going through them is never a pleasant experience, but it has to be done as life just keeps on coming. What followed was a whirlwind period of 48 hours, with very little sleep and bucket loads of stress. It all turned out fine in the end, although we are not allowed to share the judgement for 30 working days until is is fully ratified by the powers that be. I fully intend to share my Ofsted insights in future blogs, but at the moment it feels like the longest week ever!!! My energy levels are obviously low, my sleep patterns are struggling to settle after the 48 hours of stress responses and my thoughts are foggy through fatigue and sleep depravation.
What is great is that the outcome has provided a real lift to the entire school community. Hard work really does pay off. Seeing the emotional weight lifted off colleagues shoulders after years of commitment is a real joy, with their physical demeanour actually changing in the space of 24 hours. Thinking about myself, the judgement has provided some closure to my career and ratified the legacy that I will leave behind in only a few short weeks time.
One thing is for certain, this was my very last Ofsted inspection! Rather ironically when I first joined the school over 13 years ago, we were inspected in my first 6 weeks on the job. As I prepare to leave the school, I have signed off on an inspection within 6 weeks of my leaving date. The bookending of my career is nearly complete…
The end of Q2 review.
This week sees us half way through 2022 in term of our planning for our early retirement at 50…and what a year it has been! Successes have included:
We are well down the road of selling and buying our new house.
We are relocating to the Dales and the mountains that we love.
We have resigned from our jobs and are 4 weeks out from early retirement.
I have just ensured though a positive Ofsted inspection that the school and my legacy are secure.
We have saved like crazy and are really close to the point of financial independence.
We continue to build the foundations of this blog and other creative products within the earlyretirementwanderlust.com brand.
We have minimised our lives and possessions and started to live a simpler life.
We have reflected on our friendships and know where we they are going in the next phase of our lives.
We have taken positive steps to enhance our health and wellbeing.
We have discovered a new found contentment with our lives.
Recovery day in the mountains.
After such a crazy week, we knew that we needed to get some time in the mountains to decompress over the weekend. The M6 was shut on Friday night, so we stayed at home and drank wine rather than sitting in traffic all night. After an early start on Saturday morning we bagged a couple of Wainwrights close to Ambleside, on what turned out to be a fearsomely hot day. After a bit of an afternoon nap to recover in our wild camping spot, we decided to catch the sunset from the summit of Red Pike. It was a great call, but at the time, the 400m of vertical in less than 1.5km of walking on tired legs didn't feel so great. There is something quite spiritual about watching the sun set from a mountain top- it is definitely good for the soul after a tough week.
So that is the end of another eventful week. We now have less than 5 weeks of work remaining, and can get on with the things that are really important without worrying about the threat of Ofsted- something that will resonate with all serving teachers in the UK! Things are getting really exciting and very, very real and so far... we are absolutely loving it!
Have a great week,
Richard & Jackie
such cuteness with the fluffy baby highland cow 😍