Throwback Thursday (Part 4): A thousand plans in the car, very first house purchased, and fleeing to Brabant.

We're back after a week of rest! In part 3, we left you with our 'love at first sight' moment at the farmhouse in Wittelte. Despite the green 70s tiles and the huge sandbox instead of a meadow, we knew for sure: this was our place.

But yeah, then you get back in the car to The Hague… and that’s when it really begins.

A car ride full of panic and plans

We talked non-stop the entire drive back west. And by talking, I actually mean discussing a thousand things at once. How on earth were we going to tackle this? We had a rental house in The Hague. That saved us the stress of a sale, of course, but at the same time, we realized very well what this meant: this would... the very first house ever become! And that at my 46 and Emy's 48. We were going to buy a house for the first time in our lives, and a whole farmhouse in Drenthe at that.

On top of that, we still had to give notice on the lease on time, plan a huge move, we both still had full-time jobs, and we had to figure out where to get alpacas… The ideas, the doomsday scenarios, and the dreams tumbled over each other in that car.

And then there was one more very important 'little thing': we still had to tell the children.

Are we leaving already?!

Of course, we had told the girls that we had this dream, but they thought—quite logically—that something like that would take a year or longer. Not so.
Once home, we got straight to the point with our youngest daughter Noa, who was still living at home. Her reaction? She suddenly thought it was all happening way too fast. Our eldest daughter Daisy, who was already living on her own, reacted in exactly the opposite way: she was immediately wildly enthusiastic!

“Sleepless night and the very first bid”

The next day was crucial. Our own real estate agent, Jan, was going to view the farmhouse in Wittelte himself. We probably don't need to tell you that we didn't sleep a wink that night. The next day dragged on forever. We checked our phones every minute.

It wasn't until late in the afternoon that the mobile finally rang. It was Jan. Fortunately, he shared our enthusiasm! He thought it was a nice farmhouse with a beautiful piece of land and, very importantly, he found the asking price acceptable. We looked at each other with nerves in our throats and said wholeheartedly: Then let's go for it! Our very first offer on our very first home. Jan entered into negotiations with the seller on our behalf. Because there were other interested buyers, he advised us to bid slightly above the asking price to secure the deal. We gave Jan the green light and placed our fate in his hands.

Fleeing to Brabant

And then… we had to wait. It was all so intense. There was so much tension, we had so many plans, and nerves were coursing through our bodies. We really needed to let this sink in for a moment.

We decided to do what we always do when things get a bit too much: we packed the camper. Not to Drenthe this time, but we fled south to Brabant for some much-needed relaxation.

On Friday, we arrived at camper site De Negende Zaeligheyt. We tried to relax and distract ourselves, but naturally, thoughts of Wittelte wouldn't leave us alone.

And then it became Saturday afternoon. My phone rang. It was Jan…

Next week in part 5: What did Jan have to say? Did we have a hit, or was our dream in Wittelte snatched away right under our noses?

Thanks for reading along again! Best, Patrick & Emy