Early planning - possible house move in prospect

A desire I have been harbouring for some years to move from the north of Scotland to the south of England may possibly come to fruition later this year. With the recent passing of my mother I now have no very close family ties locally (in the north of Scotland) to keep me here (apart from a cousin and her husband and their son); I would gladly have remained here in Nairn, in all probability, however long my mother might have lived, but now that is no longer the case I feel free to look to my own future without regard to anyone else. Much as I love living in the north of Scotland (specially during the longer days of the summer months) - and I was after all born and had close family ties in this area, even if I never lived here as a child - I do find it somewhat isolated and lacking in some of the things I want out of life.

Whilst there is no particular urgency to a possible move, I would ideally like it to happen within the next year; apart from anything else, I am not getting any younger, however trite that may sound. The first step is to make a number of exploratory visits to my target destination (the Sussex coast of England) and the first of those visits will be happening early next month. In all probability I shall make a further visit in early May so that I may see the area in Spring (as I shall be at my home in Spain from March to June I shall be travelling to England from there for this second visit) and there will probably be several subsequent visits prior to any final move. Of course I have visited various parts of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire many times over the years so none of it is entirely new to me.

There are various attractions for me in considering a move:
- a slightly milder climate than we have here on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland;
- proximity to Gatwick aiprort for my regular visits to and from my home in Spain;
- proximity to the Channel Tunnel to allow me to make occasional visits by car and/or train to various parts of Europe, particularly Normandy and Brittany;
- proximity to London to allow me to make regular visits to concerts and the theatre, not to mention close proximity to Brighton and the 'delights' on offer there.

I don't often post very personal and self-indulgent articles here; this is one of those occasions, if you will forgive me.