When Jenny Holliday met her husband Geoff their early conversations about the future invariably turned towards their joint dream of not just owning dogs but living somewhere with plenty of space for them to run around.
We were always talking about when we would have dogs one day,” says Holliday.
And it was this desire for space and nature which pushed the couple out of London and into the Cotswolds, where their beloved Florence, a whippet, and Roger, a labrador, now have one of the largest, and most beautiful open spaces in the countryside as their playground.
The couple met almost a decade ago, by which point Holliday was working as a journalist and had bought a one-bedroom flat in Leytonstone. They decided to move in together within a year, and decided to live in Geoff’s two-bedroom flat in Hornsey. “
By 2019 the couple were outgrowing their flat to the extent that they had to rent a storage unit to house the overflow, and began to house hunt.
They looked around Hertfordshire but were disappointed by how little they could get for their money in the commuter belt, and decided to see what was available a bit further afield.
This brought them to Chipping Norton, a market town in the modish north Cotswolds, where they rapidly fell in love with a five-bedroom Victorian townhouse.
In quick succession in early 2020 their £476,000 offer was accepted on the property, Geoff proposed, and news started to filter through about a new and potentially dangerous virus spreading around the world.
The couple finally made their move in August, once the housing market had reopened following the first lockdown of the pandemic.
Holliday had already sold her flat for £350,000 and Geoff, a wayfinding masterplanner, 51, sold his home for £410,000 to help finance the move.
The Cotswolds’ profile has grown and grown in recent years, thanks to the army of British celebrities including David and Victoria Beckham, who call it home.
They have been joined more recently by American stars like Ellen DeGeneris and Portia de Rossi and, according to recent reports, Beyonce and Jay-Z.
But for Holliday Chipping Norton is simply a pleasant country market town, reminiscent of Reigate, Surrey where she grew up.
“It is much more ordinary than people think,” she says. “We liked it because there is enough going on — a few restaurants, some pubs, shops — but I can still take the dogs out for a walk in a field.”
This doesn’t mean that there isn’t the chance to spot a few famous faces. TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson can often be seen driving through Chipping Norton in his Landrover, while Holliday was once thrilled to spot David Beckham having a drink at The Chequers gastropub in the nearby village of Churchill.
Chipping Norton is also close to Soho Farmhouse and chi chi farm shop Daylesford Organic. “Whenever we have people to stay we tend to take them to Daylesford so that we can laugh at the £100 jars of pesto,” says Holliday.
“And we do know when it is the school holidays because there are a lot of SUVs with roof boxes passing through.”
As well as fulfilling her ambition of becoming a dog owner moving to the Cotswolds has allowed Jenny to rethink her career, and retrain as a career coach @jennyhollidaycoach “It has taught me how to slow down a bit,” she says.