© All photographs and text by the author, John Wyatt, 2012, unless otherwise acknowledged Before Moving to Sweden, our home was a small 100 year old “black and white” lodge in Birmingham, UK. This was a lovely home and convenient for John and Ingegerd’s work, and for nurseries and primary schools for the children at that age. We enjoyed decorating and designing the interior of the cottage and gardens, and as our family grew with children we added a wonderful “garden room”, but after 10 years there it was becoming just too small, and not easily or cost effectively enlarged. A move became inevitable. But, where to?   That was the question. Every year since the children were born we have been back to Sweden from the UK visting friends and relatives, usually one or two trips each year. These have mostly been in the summer, but we also had a fantastic time one snowy hristmas. Vibeke also travelled to Sweden alone to visit close friends during another winter and participated in proper winter sports unlike anything she could experience during an average English winter. So the connections were obviously there, but to really uproot was quite drastic! A considerable driving force was that whatever we did, we were at a time of change: John retired Christmas 2011 and  Vibeke was due to begin the journey of "SATS", secondary school choices, entrance exams and all that. Most of all, very sadly, our delightful home these past 12 years was woefully too small for us.  After considering extensions, we had and even submitted plans - which were approved, we realised it would only "buy time" but not offer a solution for long. The family were growing up: Hannes needed his own bedroom and Vibeke room to study. Everyone wanted space to play, and call their own.