‘After upsizing to Orkney in retirement, I finally feel at home’

Seven years ago I moved from Liverpool to Orkney [says Dorothy Taylor, 73]. My cousin used to live on Orkney and I’d visited her several times and often thought that it was somewhere I’d like to live. I was drawn to the space, the feeling of safety and the sea.
One year while I was visiting, I thought, why not do it? It was almost an impulse decision — I was retired (I had worked for arts support agencies) and had never lived outside a city before. I grew up in Manchester and had lived in Liverpool for 40 years, but I wanted somewhere different and Orkney is beautiful.
In Liverpool, I lived in a small terraced house about two miles from the city centre, in Dingle, or Liverpool 8. It used to be a nice place with friendly neighbours, but not long before I moved, there was a machete attack up the road. There had been shootings and burglaries there too. According to my son, who still lives in Dingle, it has gentrified since I left, but Orkney has given me a sense of freedom. I don’t worry about walking out at night — for half the year it’s light until ten o’clock, anyway.
I didn’t have a car at first so I settled in Kirkwall, Orkney’s main town. I found a spacious two-bedroom flat in a converted 19th-century sawmill with a view over the bay for which I paid about £85,000. I was fortunate in already having friends there that my cousin had introduced me to. I also joined a choir and volunteered for Citizens Advice, which helped me to make some new friends. Orcadians can be reserved, but once they get to know you, they are friendly.
There’s plenty to do on Orkney — there are a lot of artists. There’s a cinema in Kirkwall and a cinema club in Stromness. There are theatre groups, choirs and orchestras. I belong to a music group that does Afro-Cuban drumming. And there’s fabulous walking.
Many people from the mainland have visited, fallen in love with the place and moved here, including a lot of retired people. There are plenty of GPs and a hospital. For more serious health issues, people can be flown to Aberdeen.
The downside of my flat was that it was on the second floor, so I had to carry shopping up two flights of stairs. My knees aren’t getting any stronger and I thought I’d need to move eventually.
Last year, sadly, my sister died. She left me an inheritance, so I decided to put it towards a new home. As it turned out, a friend was moving to Edinburgh and needed to sell her bungalow, which is a few miles outside Kirkwall. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea to buy it. I already had several other friends in the area.
In January I offered £270,000 on the bungalow, which was accepted, but it took much longer than I expected for the inheritance to come through. If I missed the completion date, it would have been catastrophic. In May my financial adviser suggested that I contact the loan provider Together to ask about a bridging loan. I had a deposit of £113,000 from my savings and the sale of my flat. Together lent me £157,000. They charge me 1 per cent interest a month and I have a year to pay it back.
The bungalow has three bedrooms and a large living room with enormous windows, as well as a large kitchen and dining area. I have a view of the sea and a garden that is full of willow trees with farmland beyond. It’s not remote — I have neighbours — but they don’t interrupt my view.
• ‘I retired to Zanzibar — it’s affordable and house prices are low’
I’ve never owned a house with a garden before. My terraced house in Liverpool only had a small backyard. I’m so glad to have that space — somewhere to sit outside when the sun shines. My cats love it too. The garden has a blackcurrant bush, daffodils and snowdrops, and I think I’ll plant some tulips and foxgloves and sow some wildflowers. There’s a greenhouse, too, so I plan to grow tomatoes, peas, beans and cucumbers. The garden will be a challenge, but a nice one. I want to give it plenty of thought.
Most people my age are downsizing and I understand that — I’m trying not to leave a load of rubbish for others to sort out — but downsizing isn’t for everyone. I think having space around you is good for the soul and I don’t want to feel cramped. A larger space doesn’t necessarily mean more trouble — if the layout flows it can be easier to clean a big space than a small one because you’re not fiddling in the nooks and crannies, and for me in a bungalow there are no stairs to vacuum.
Sometimes I think, am I really here? I may not have long to enjoy it, but it’s been worth the effort for even one day. I would say to anybody, don’t worry if you don’t have much time left — get enjoyment from your home.
I always wanted a house with a garden and I didn’t know if that would ever happen. My flat felt temporary, but now I finally feel like I’m home. I’m where I want to be.