Having lived here in Cyprus in the 70’s – my husband, Les, was in the military at Akrotiri and I worked at Episkopi – we were already in love with this beautiful Island and, the icing on the cake was the birth of our beautiful daughter, Storm.  We nearly called her Berengaria – but that’s just too much of a mouthful after a few glasses of local wine (well, you try saying it)!!

We eventually moved back to Oxford but thoughts of finding our island and living in the sun never left our minds.  We had fabulous holidays in Spain, Menorca, Mexico, St. Lucia, Skeggy (just joking!) but never anywhere that we thought we could move to and call home.

Then, one day, a friend of ours said “have you been to Northern Cyprus?” “Course we have, we used to live there” (oh my God, was it really 30 years ago!) – “well you must give it a go”.

That July (2002) we were lolling by the pool at the Pitoresk Hotel in North Cyprus and decided to have a look around - £50.00 deposit later (yes it was that cheap then!) we were on our way to buying our Villa on the island in the sun.

We went home, married our daughter off to the nearest bidder (well not literally!). Sold our house – very quickly, too quickly actually because we had to move into pokey 2-bedroom rented accommodation for a year.  However, on 6th December 2003, we moved lock stock and 2 smoking Pekingese to Catalkoy in Northern Cyprus.  The boys had to go straight into quarantine at the kennels in Lefkosa, the kennels were something else – but hey, that’s another story.

Actually our first year here was very hectic – I think all our friends and family and their friends and family came for a holiday and a nose at our new, large, airy and spacious house with swimming pool and fantastic views of the mountain and Mediterranean (oh Gosh, I sound like Mrs. Bucket!)  but it was fun and we enjoyed showing our guests (and ourselves) around this beautiful island of Cyprus.

Anyway, Les came to retire but I’m far too young (!) to do that.

My background has been mainly PA/Manager roles.  Before I left England, I worked for 15 years at Oxford Airport as Operations Manager in the Helicopter Training and Charter Sector.  The training section usually involved about 40 students of mixed nationalities – bit like being a School Teacher I suppose, except I did overhear a couple of them calling me the Rotweiller (what could they have meant?)  The Charter section involved arranging flights for up to 300 passengers to such places as Ascot, Farnborough and Silverstone to name a few.  And, yes, even after 15 years in the aviation world, I still hate flying!

Anyway, I digress, just after we arrived I answered an advertisement for help at Kyrenia Animal Rescue and so, for 4 months I worked at the Kennels and Cattery up at Five-Finger Mountain.  Smelly job, but someone’s got to do it and I fully admire everybody involved with these people.  Well done KAR!

After 6 months I got a job as a PA for an Estate Agency (could tell you which one, but I’d have to kill you!) and enjoyed my time there but travelling and other issues were exhausting and so it was fortunate that, during this time Les and I met up with Hayat and Steve over a fresh orange juice in the Fez and really got on so well with them – how can you not – they are such fun and I broached the subject of “any jobs going?” : Nope!

Fortunately, eventually, there was a “job going” so I took a crash course in foreign languages (anybody who knows Hayat will know what I’m talking about!) and I am now having lots of blonde moments getting my head around the computer system and work as Office Manager at their Catalkoy Branch which is a fantastic 5 minute drive from my house.

I feel very proud to be part of the Donaghy and Beyler team and look forward to contributing to their success as the best Estate Agency on the Island.

So, our lives have turned around and, in the end, we found our island in the sun, live in a great house with amazing views, have some truly lovely friends, enjoy going to work every day and, in one word : bliss!

ps:  Since arriving in Cyprus in 2003 my Darling daughter has made us very proud Grandparents with the production of Milly and Bertie (2½ and 1 year old) – what more could anybody ask for?!

Gilly

Office Manager

Donaghy and Beyler

Property Agents & Lettings

www.donaghyandbeyler.com