Escape to the Country: Bishop’s Stortford couple Steve and Susan Couzens switch from west to east in search of their dream home
A retired Bishop’s Stortford couple who featured on TV’s Escape to the Country moved into their dream home two days after the programme aired – on the other side of the country from where they initially planned to relocate.
Steve and Susan Couzens appeared on the Monday March 17 episode of the BBC One daytime show, which helps prospective buyers find their perfect home in the countryside.
Their search focused on the Wye Valley, an area renowned for its picturesque landscapes straddling the England-Wales border, as they wanted to move from their four-bedroom detached home in Maze Green Heights to be closer to their grandchildren in Bristol.
They met with presenter Ginny Buckley and toured three properties for sale that met their criteria of a detached country-style home with character, a large kitchen/breakfast room, a minimum of three bedrooms, a good-sized garden and space for an art studio – all for a budget of around £750,000.
The programme ended with them waiting to complete the sale of their home, with the intention of putting in an offer on the first property they were shown, in the Monmouthshire village of Mynyddbach.
The couple were “bowled over” by the detached stone house in a secluded lane, but it was not to be.
Their final destination ended up being on the opposite side of the country in the Suffolk coastal village of Orford. They moved into a 30-year-old detached country-style house last Wednesday (March 19).
They needed to be closer to Susan’s mother, who still lives in Stortford, while their Bristol son and his family were more than happy to visit the new ‘holiday home’.
“We’ll probably see more of them now as they can come for holidays here!” said Steve, 67, a retired insurance broker who spent 40 years commuting by train from Stortford into London. Part of his spare time was taken up with being a member of Bishop’s Stortford Musical Theatre Company.
Susan, 62, is a former radiographer who worked in London and was also a teaching assistant at Herts & Essex High School and Hillmead Primary School. Her passions include gardening and painting.
“Now we live in a lovely country lane where we see pheasants and deer coming down the road and horses riding past,” said Steve. “We’re on the edge of the village and deafened only by the noise of birds.”
As fans of Escape to the Country, the couple – who had lived in Stortford most of their lives and raised their three sons Jonathan, Alex and Sam in the town – decided in February last year to apply to appear on the programme. As time passed, they forgot about it until a member of the production team contacted them five months later.
“We’ve watched the programme for years and it always says at the end ‘if you would like our help with moving, get in touch’. It was always our plan to move somewhere quieter, so we thought we’d apply,” said Steve.
“They got in contact to see if we were still interested and our house was up for sale by then. Things then moved quite quickly. They turned up to film at our Stortford house and we went on to film in the Wye Valley.
“We wanted to be near our grandchildren and son and daughter-in-law, but we have two other sons who are now living in Geneva and Sydney, so Bristol suddenly didn’t seem so far away and we needed to be closer to Sue’s mum.
“We moved in last Wednesday and we’re still looking at lots of boxes, but the weather’s been lovely and the sun has shone every day since we’ve been here.
“We’re in a quiet road with eight houses and it’s very peaceful. We’ve got two brick fireplaces with stoves and it’s a very nicely built house that was just about within budget with a big double garage, which Sue has designs on for a studio.”
The property also features a small cottage garden, more suitable to their needs now, a pond and lies close to Orford Castle as well as the coast. “We are very happy,” said Steve.
