For some people major life decisions come after long and careful periods of research and reflection.
Tori Longdon and Jack Merrylees have taken a more freeform approach, and have found themselves enjoying an unusual, nomadic lifestyle, subsidising their dream country life by renting their property out for several months per year while they stay in bed and breakfasts, with friends, or getting back to nature on camping trips.
The journey to this unconventional arrangement began innocuously enough, with a weekend visit to friends.
Driving back to London they found themselves passing through Bibury, a dreamy Cotswolds village regularly described as the most beautiful spot in Britain.
Its sheer, sumptuous beauty cast a spell over them.
“It just completely blew us away, and when we got home we set up a property alert, just because its fun to look at nice houses,” said Tori.
At the time the couple were living in Islington, in a flat Tori had bought with her mother back in 2015.
Jack moved in in 2020, but was keen to make a property investment of his own after years of renting.
Then, in February 2021, an exceedingly pretty three bedroom stone cottage in Bilbury came up for sale and the couple decided to go to Gloucestershire and take a look at it.
“We didn’t think that there was any realistic chance that we would ever live there,” said Jack. “It was just going to be a nice day trip.”
The cottage ticked all their boxes, and though they doubted they would be able to stretch to it they spontaneously decided to make an offer, as much to save face with the sceptical estate agent who had shown them round.
The cottage was listed for £455,000, at a time when the Cotswolds market was red hot and full of buyers tripping over themselves to take advantage of the Stamp Duty holiday and move out of London.
Tori and Jack offered £450,000, and to their utter astonishment the offer was accepted - despite the fact that they hadn’t got a mortgage offer in principle (and, in fact, had not even started researching how they might fund the property).
Adding to their woes Tori, a conductor working with choirs and orchestras, is freelance, a scenario that never seems to go down well with mortgage lenders.
Jack, who works for Balfour Winery, a Kent-based vineyard, had some savings to put down as a deposit but didn’t have a big enough income to command a full, conventional, mortgage.
Their solution was to harness the cottage’s potential rental value by taking out a holiday let mortgage. They planned to stay in London and use the cottage as a bolt hole when it wasn’t booked out.
“We didn’t intend for it to become our home,” said Tori.
“We thought we were buying a holiday let business. But what has shifted is our mentality. We got here and we loved the community, the friends we have made, the pace of life, the countryside. It just captured our hearts and changed our lives. I am a totally different human since we came here.”
The terms of the couple’s mortgage still dictate their day to day life.
It must be rented out for at least a third of the year, and is listed on Airbnb at rates ranging from around £220 to £350 per night, depending on the season.
When the cottage is booked the couple, who are both 32 and got married in August this year, need to vacate.
They might go to the Islington flat, if it is available (it is also listed on Airbnb to help pay its mortgage). If not they need to find an alternative, often at short notice.
Luckily their village pub has rooms, they sometimes stay with family or friends, and have bought a tent for impromptu camping trips.
“It works really well for us at the moment,” said Jack. “We have had some amazing weekends where it has forced us to get out of the house and go and do something,.”
Tori spends around a day per week organising the rentals at the two properties.
Last year the cottage was rented out for 149 days, and the couple have therefore become experts at packing their bags and tidying up at speed.
Jack is constantly amazed at the rate at which their guests manage to break wine glasses, and they often get home to the village after a weekend away to tales of what their renters have been up to.
“One time they had a party and invited a load of our friends back to our house, which was strange,” said Tori.
For now the couple are content with their itinerant lifestyle, not least because it is helping them cover a big jump in their monthly mortgage payments they were landed with last year thanks to increased interest rates.
“You do miss a sense of calm and being able to plan ahead,” said Jack.
“It does get a bit exhausting, but at the end of the day we have our cake and eat it too.”
