North Star Tranquility

Finding and creating our perfect Scottish retreat

Welcome!

Welcome to North Star Tranquility. We began this site about our journey towards a (very early) retirement as we worked through all the debates and discussions that were suddenly looming large. Like, where will we live, what will we fill our time with and how will we make our dream a reality? We know almost everyone will wonder these things at some point. But, life threw us a curve ball and we ended up traversing the peaks and troughs of terminal illness. We didn't know much about the cancer journey, so we thought we would document our experiences for others. So, any questions, maybe our blog can help!

Icelandic Saga

Last year when I was visiting my tai chi tutor and his lovely family down in Dorset we were talking about places we wanted to travel to and I mentioned Iceland. It would be a third visit but I've wanted to go in the summer and see the north side of the island. Colin's daughter, Lyndsay, said she had always wanted to visit Iceland too and we thought we could do a week in each other's company and enjoy a calm but adventurous trip sometime in 2026. We booked it last November and

Sweet Spanish Summer Story

Back in January I booked myself a little treat to Mallorca to see the total solar eclipse. I’ve been wanting to see another ever since Reims in 1999. I’ve been looking forward to it and excited about it for 27 years! I thought Mallorca would be a good option as it would be quiet and have clear skies, but I was a bit worried about the high temperatures. Needs must… This was to be a solo trip and I splashed out on a gorgeous little rustic, adults only farmstead hotel with only

Full Circle

It's four years since I wrote and published the very first North Star Tranquility blog post, on 1st August 2022, talking about retirement and the dream that John and I had to move to somewhere new and beautiful and peaceful. Anyone who has followed this journey over those four years knows that the dream was both realized and all over just over two years later. But, of course, things didn't end there for me. I picked myself up and dusted myself down and I kept sharing my journ