Thanks everyone for all your advice, it is appreciated. I am pretty outgoing and have no problem in chatting to people. I will admit to wanting the quintessential little Cottage and Garden but not in the middle of nowhere, preferably on the edge of a village. I think on reflection apart from choosing the right location the rest is up to me, life is what you make it! Good idea about renting though, but not for a while. I still have recurring nightmares about a certain firm of British letting agents for whom the word 'maintenance' did not seem to feature in their vocabulary! RR xx