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English Audio Request

Kathy
471 Words / 1 Recordings / 0 Comments
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How cool is that?
Some people don't want to live in a suburban semi. Caroline Rees meets the 'the lighthouse kids', the barge dwellers and the 'hobbits' - three families who have opted for more unusual domestic arrangements
The houseboat
Pamela Chapman and Edward Burrell live on a 19th-century Dutch barge in Sunbury-on-Thames, where they brought up their daughter, Emily, 23
Pamela: "When Emily was born, we were living on a smaller barge in Richmond. Looking back, I don't know how I did it. I had two dogs, and a baby, and shopping, and had to carry all this stuff across a wobbly houseboat on to our barge on the other side. You only had to step on the houseboat and it tipped - not like the big solid old thing we have now - and the water was pretty fast when the tide was up. I'd wanted a home birth but was told it was out of the question because of access.
"We moved here when Emily was four. It's a very social way of life. Most of our friends had young children and we had wonderful boat rallies. Emily comes back to the boat whenever she can. It's her 'country' house. She's currently living in a flat but wants to buy back the boat we had in Richmond.
"The freedom is wonderful, the fact that we can just untie the boat and go. I think I would be claustrophobic in a house. It's all an adventure. Six years ago, we went across the Channel. The crossing was calm but going round to Dover was very rough. We had a budgie and a goldfish and I don't think they liked the china crashing around!
"Just being by water is relaxing. I work in London a lot and hate the journey but it's so peaceful when you come back. Even people who can't sleep say it's the best night's sleep they've had. The boat gently moves and I think that helped with Emily as a baby.
"People ask if it's cold in winter, but it's cosy and warm with a log fire. It doesn't feel cramped. When we bought this bigger boat we made sure there was a back cabin where Emily, or we, could take friends so we had a separation zone between us.
"I lived in loads of places before and was never settled. As soon as I got the boat, I was happy. It's a moveable feast, so maybe there's a bit of gypsy in my soul that needed that. And maybe we've given that to Emily. She loves to travel - she went around the world at 18. So long as we're healthy, this will be our lifestyle. I suspect that, if things go the way Emily wants, hers will be similar. It's nice to be different."

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