I lived in a flat in Jesmond (Newcastle) and Colin was brought along to my parties by a friend of a friend. He lived in London by then and we had a long distance relationship for two years before I moved down to London to live with Colin.

In 1987 we moved from a one bedroom flat in Blackheath (London) and bought a five bedroomed house in West Bridgford (Nottingham) which seemed ridiculously big for the two of us. We got married on New Year's Eve in 1988 with only our four best friends with us.

In 1989 Katherine was born, followed by Phil in 1993. When we finally left after 22 years to start another adventure in Northumberland the house was overflowing!

The return to the North East was something we both desperately wanted and finally achieved it in 2009 when we moved into Maple Cottage. A place we were to be very happy.