The State of Gracie

This is our story – we have been led to this through both a desire to lead a more sustainable lifestyle and economic necessity.  One thing we have always believed is that the Lord provides what we need (not necessarily what we want) and that to have faith is all important – it seems as though this will be tested over the next week,

Living on a narrowboat – well, for Stella, this is going back to her roots, her maternal grandfather was born on a narrowboat and his father owned a fleet, travelling between Shropshire & Cheshire. We wanted to travel and our original plan was to go to New Zealand via rail. Unfortunately, Chris’s health took a nosedive and two kidney stones & three years later, we are still awaiting resolution

 We decided to sell the house due to economic neccesity and the fact that, although the house is an end terrace , it is like a tardis and goes on forever. It was simply too big. The decision by ATOS to declare Chris fit for work and then the DWP deciding that after 365 days his benefits would stop meant that our income dropped in half and our ability to pay the mortgage (taken out to buy Stella's first husband out of the house)stopped.. We tried, but it meant that we were existing; so this galvanised us; we put the house on the market and sought free legal advice and although the solicitor wasn't available, spoke to a housing officer and told him our plan - sell the house and buy a narrowboat outright. He did tell us that we would probably qualify for association housing as there was income, which surprised us. Fortunately, we didn't get the chance to find out if this was actually correct. 

Anyway, in the meantime we had numerous views; however, our real estate agent wasn't telling us the true picture and so when he phoned to tell us someone had made a cash offer (£13k below what we were asking) but that they could complete in a fortnight, our initial thought was no. However, we had seen a boat - Gracie- she had a licence and was sound and so we went to see her. 




Needless to say, 


we fell in love and the contract was sealed with a handshake and  Gracie was ours (subject to payment). We then agreed the price with the buyer and completed the sale pack.  


However, we said we needed to complete within two weeks (as per original offer) - the buyers solicitors said they couldn't omplete by Monday 25th; however, we know the buyer needs to complete and so am applying that pressure so we should be on board on Wednesday 27th March