Moving house is quite an exhausting process- except for when you’ve done it so many times, it kind of becomes your forte. Although I’m sure there must be better ways of going about it than simply piling your dinner plates on the passenger seat of your car and strapping the seatbelt round them as I did last time (it greatly helps if you go slowly around the corners).

We have moved several (actually, five) times since Charlie was born in France almost five years ago. When he was three months old, we moved from our home in the countryside near Paris to the Alps, where I worked in a spa.

Because I didn’t drive, I used to have to walk 2 km through the woods with the buggy to get to the nearest supermarket. Admittedly, the delicious food market outside was well worth the trip. And we saw an eagle one day which you don’t get driving in the car to Asda. But the stunning setting came with its frustrations. You couldn’t just nip out and buy a baguette whenever you felt like it because the shops shut for three hours in the middle of the day. And trying to get France Telecom to come and install the internet was like trying to arrange for Carla Bruni to come round and sing a few songs.

After 6 months, I’d had enough. I wanted family. I wanted Britain’s Got Talent. I wanted Cadbury’s. I wanted flat landscapes, soft play centres, a radio station that didn’t only play love ballads, public transport and buildings that weren’t just made of wood. But most of all, I wanted Morrisons.

That time, we got everything we needed back to England in one car, with a couple of boxes couriered. And there were two other people in that car!

Luckily, this time Charlie and I are just moving further down the village green, so I’m hoping it won’t necessitate quite so much upheaval. Charlie will do his usual thing of helpfully unpacking his toys- while the boxes are still in the old house. I will do my usual thing of staying up ‘til midnight each night manically arranging the new house like a woman possessed.

Time to get this caravan on the road…