In January Jonathan Williams and Lotte Brewer enjoyed a blissful ski trip.
After the peace and beauty of the mountains, getting back to London was a shock to the system.
“Within about half an hour the house was full of toys and dirty washing, there was stuff everywhere, we have two children running around, and as soon as you walk out of the front door you are hit by this wave of sensory overload," said Jonathan.
"An ambulance goes past every five minutes, there are people everywhere, and there is a lot of rubbish on the streets."
The couple had already been toying with the idea of leaving Wimbledon and that harsh return to reality convinced them the time was right.
They called an estate agent with a view to renting out their three bedroom house and from there things moved fast.
“The house was rented within 48 hours without ever going on the market,” said Jonathan. “They called three people, we got three offers, and that was it.”
Lotte is Dutch and the couple, both 35, decided to see if the grass was greener in mainland Europe.
In March they and their two sons, Huxley, four, and Rory, two, moved in with Lotte’s mother, in Amsterdam.
From there they looked around for a home in the coastal city of The Hague, 40 miles away, and by the summer they were settling into a five-bedroom period house in the upscale Archipelbuurt neighbourhood, close to the city centre and two miles from the beach.
“The house was rented within 48 hours without ever going on the market”
In London their Victorian end of terrace rents for circa £3,500pcm — their larger home in The Hague costs them about the same.
Luckily the couple’s work is highly flexible.
Lotte is a journalist, and Jonathan is managing director of PR agency Rosely Group, and was already working from home.
Post-Brexit getting a visa was a hassle, said Jonathan, but he has been granted residency on the basis that his children are half Dutch.
Since moving the family is loving their extra space, but the benefits of the move stretch further than that.
The children are much calmer now that they live in a quieter city, and Huxley’s eczema has completely cleared up.
In London they were paying out around £2,000pcm on nursery fees and babysitters.
In The Hague the government subsidises nursery education, and children start school at four. Huxley is already enjoying his education, and learning Dutch.
“The pace of life is still energetic, without being chaotic,” said Jonathan.
“Everyone is entrepreneurial, and works hard, but it comes without the stress that you see in London.”
Cycling is the main local form of transport and after school the family made a habit of going to the beach after school before it got too cold.
Their house has plenty of room for guests from the UK, and they plan to stay put for the next five to ten years. After that, who knows?
“In the past the only move I have made was Dorset to London,” he said. “Lotte has always moved around, and once you do it you realise it is not actually that difficult.”
