Excited:a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness.

If you ask another adult when was the last time they felt excited, I wonder what they would say? I wonder how far back they would have to think? If you ask a child, on the other hand, they will more than likely say today, or yesterday. One of my favourite things about children, and working with them, is how excited they always are. It’s like some kind of natural state for them, and the younger they are, the easier they are excited.

Us adults seems to lose this as time wears on and life wears us down. There is little room for excitement in getting up on a dark Monday morning and trudging to work. We get a bit excited about the weekend, but it always goes too fast. We get excited about holidays and time off. Maybe our birthdays and Christmas too, but that’s usually more to do with other people than ourselves.

It is so easy to forget how this feels. That fizzy breathless giddy feeling inside of you. Smiling spontaneously, smiling alone, breaking into laughter or giggles. Jumping up and down, clapping hands.

I’m also lucky because I am a writer and writing excites me. If I have a story on the go I am excited every day that I work on it but lately I’ve had other things to feel excited about and it made me realise how long it’s been since I’ve felt that heightened and blissful emotion.

Not to say, at all, that life is not generally very good to me. But days tend to roll into each other, I feel tired, a bit weary, a bit bored. It’s hard to get excited on a daily basis living in this strained old world, but lately for me, that has changed.

We recently inherited some money and it was not quite enough to do anything really wild like buy a house (we’ve rented our entire lives) but it was indeed, a potentially life-changing amount. It left us with serious dilemmas and a lot of thinking to do. We have never had money before, not in any substantial amount, and with this strange new reality came a lot of fear, guilt and sadness. Someone we loved very much had passed away so it didn’t feel right to delight in this money or celebrate it, but at the same time, we knew we had to honour them if we could and not waste the opportunity we had been given.

Over several months we thrashed it out, going back and forth, looking into every option available and weighing up the pros and cons. Our biggest fear was doing nothing. We feared that if we sat still and didn’t do something with it, it would get eaten up by rent and bills before we knew it.

We looked into several options including these;

Saving it, putting it away in an ISA or a pension pot

Using it as a large deposit and trying to get a mortgage to finally buy

Buying an eco-friendly tiny home and trying to find a small plot to rent and live on

Starting a new business

Buying a campervan and having adventures

Buying a park or mobile home

One by one we went through the options. One of my favourites was the tiny home idea. I’d been following tiny home pages on Facebook and Instagram for some time and I think they are a fantastic solution to the housing crisis in this country. They are built with sustainable and off grid living in mind, can be towed like a touring caravan and are affordable, unlike mortgages and rents these days. I even had a video consultation with a company who make them and it seemed like a really good solution, however, the biggest obstacle seemed to be finding a plot of land. We did ask around but kept getting told no. If we bought the tiny home we would not have had any money left to buy our own plot and even then, you still need planning permission to be able to live on it full time. It’s a shame, because the tiny home movement is growing and I fully support it. Imagine the difference we could make to low-income families and homeless people if land-owners were more open to this idea!

For a while we settled on the campervan idea. We have always dreamed of owning one. I’ve always liked the idea of living in one when there are less kids and pets to care for and I also follow lots of van-life accounts on Instagram and Facebook. Again, I think the whole van-life movement has grown out of the housing crisis. People are fed up of being ripped off with ever-spiraling rents and mortgages and living in a van instantly means your wages will go a lot further. Imagine living in a home with basically no rent or mortgage to pay and minimal bills? Imagine how much wealthier you would instantly feel! We liked this idea and thought to start with we would just have holidays and adventures in it and then maybe, when it’s just us, my husband and I would live in it.

I was also quite into the getting a mortgage idea for a while. It’s always been my dream to own my own home and I have always had an image in my mind of what that would be. Essentially, it wouldn’t be too different to the place we rent now. A large garden, not too many neighbours, fields and woods and rivers close by. Unfortunately, even with such a large deposit, and our wages being higher than they’ve ever been, we still would not be able to afford the kind of home we would like in Dorset, where we live. We could possibly have got a mortgage for a flat, or a terraced house in a less desirable area, but even then, at a stretch. It was really depressing looking. So, we looked further afield and instantly saw we could get a lot more for our money if we crossed over into Devon, or went as far as Somerset, Cornwall or Wales. These are all places we know and love having been on many caravan holidays over the years.

The mobile home or park home option seemed enticing too but sadly, every single caravan park in our area (and there are tons…) is either for holidays only or for old people only, no children allowed. It was so frustrating as we could have afforded some of these homes in beautiful locations.

The idea of leaving Dorset seemed more and more enticing. Yes, after nearly fourteen years of living in the same house, and having lived in the county our entire lives, it would mean a big change, changing our lives entirely. That felt scary, but also exciting…

At one time I never would have considered it.

But now we felt like it was time to start living and actually enjoying the wages we earn, instead of watching them all get eaten up by rent and bills.

Then, one day, I was scrolling Facebook and came across a caravan park in Devon that had recently been taken over by new owners and was now a 12 month park. You do need to list somewhere else as your permanent residence but essentially, you are free to live on site 12 months a year and make it your home. Pets are allowed. Children are allowed. There are no age restrictions. It’s in a beautiful setting with sea and meadow views, just a short drive from the outstanding natural beauty areas of Ilfracombe, Woolacombe and Barnstaple.

We made contact and decided to go and have a look. We enjoyed our visit so much. The park was wonderful, the choices of static caravans and wooden style lodges were gorgeous. The location was perfect and while there, I felt so at ease, so invigorated. We explored the nearest town, Ilfracombe, a seaside town that feels like it is stuck in time, in a good way! The people were friendly, the views spectacular, the possibilities for exploring and hiking endless. We all felt at home. We came away and discussed it and we were all agreed. We wanted to live there. We wanted to buy a static caravan and live in it. We wanted to change our lives completely.

And that’s the reason I am so excited right now. We recently purchased the caravan and our plan is to have lots of holidays and weekends away for the next two years while our sons finish in their current schools, plus rent it out to holiday makers in hope of making a little income from it. Then, we will up sticks and leave and it will be our home. If we ever tire of the park, we can move the caravan anywhere we like. It was by far the cheapest option, leaving us with a respectable amount in the bank if we ever need it, or possibly to try and purchase a bit of land one day. But for now, we all feel exited to be on the park.

I have fallen in love with the area its in and on a recent weekend there we explored more of Ilfracombe and visited the magnificent Woolacombe beach. There are lots more places on my list to explore and I am ready for adventure, ready to embrace this feeling of being excited again.

It might not be everyone’s idea of a dream come true, but for us, going from £15,000 a year in rent plus bills, to £3,000 in ground rent and minimal bills, is a no-brainer. Our lives will be instantly easier and more relaxed. We will have more time – surely the most precious thing of all and the thing we all want more of?

I have plans to get into hiking, to be outside as much as possible. I won’t have a garden anymore but these days it just stresses me out anyway. I have always loved this house and garden but its so expensive now, it takes all our time and energy paying for it and we have none left to actually enjoy it. That has to change. We have one short life. One shot.

I want time. I want space. I want to breathe, wander, dream and ponder. I want to slow down.

This is our plan to change our lives and this is just the start.

I hope we stay excited.