Lara Piras and Daniel Defoe were reluctant London leavers.
If they could have afforded to they would still be living in Walthamstow, east London, close to their friends, within easy walking distance of Walthamstow’s many cafés and restaurants, and close to the heart of the capital.
But their one-bedroom flat was too small to contain a growing family.
“We knew we were priced out of Walthamstow so we did the classic thing of starting to look in other boroughs a bit further out, and then we realised that we were looking at places we wouldn’t actually want to live in,” said Lara. “So we said that if we are going to move out we should really move out.”
The couple settled on Whitstable, largely because of its good links to London (trains to Stratford take just over an hour) and because they have friends there and had fallen in love with the seaside town on summer visits.
They put their flat on the market at the start of 2021. At that stage their eldest child Etienne, now four, was a toddler, and Lara was pregnant with Alessia, now 18 months.
By September 2021 they had sold the flat, for £355,000, and bought a four-bedroom detached house — an extended former bungalow — in Whitstable for £485,000. With great foresight they opted for a five-year fixed mortgage, which means they have another few years before they need to start worrying about interest rates.
Nonetheless Lara, 36, a freelance copywriter, editor, and researcher (www.larapiras.com), found the process of house hunting and moving traumatic. “Being pregnant did not help, I definitely would not advise moving house at the same time,” she said. “There were huge shifts happening in my life simultaneously and it was really overwhelming.”
After Alessia’s birth Lara and Daniel, 39, a new business consultant, found themselves very focussed on childcare.
“I didn’t put the pressure on myself to have it all immediately,” said Lara. “I think I only really settled in … [to Whitstable] … in the last six months, because I was focussing on caring for the baby, not making friends.
“But I now work at a co-working space, and that has helped me build more relationships, and we already knew a few families, so we are meeting friends of friends. And when my son starts school in September that will open up a whole new group of people.”
Although she loves the space of the new family home and the good fresh air of the Kent coast Lara still misses the pace and energy of London. “But I don’t miss stepping out into it every day,” she said.
Buzzy London has been exchanged for family walks on the beach, and exploring nearby towns like Margate, but Lara and Daniel make time to visit the capital regularly. “It has got so much to offer, in terms of culture, diversity… I want my children to see and understand what is available to them,” said Lara.
