House Buying....Oh Joy!!

So as you may know we have recently sold our house and are in the process of purchasing our next home.
It is an emotional time, which is something i wasn't altogether prepared for, i feel sad to be leaving the house we have been in for over 8 years, this was our first home as a couple, the first house either of us owned, it was where we developed our (not particularly strong) DIY skills, it was where we got engaged and where we lived when we got married and most importantly it was the home we lived in when two became three and our daughter was born. So to leave all of those memories behind will be a big wrench for me.
As well as the fact I am comfortable here, i know this house inside out, every creak is familiar (and annoying!) so to be living somewhere new will be strange for a while.
But i am also unbelievably excited about the move! The house we have purchased is beautiful and it will be lovely to put our own stamp on it over the coming years and to fill it with our family life so we can in grain new memories there.

One thing i did prepare myself for was that the whole process would be stressful. I am a sensible, logical person and despite that i still wasn't prepared for the reality. What a nightmare the house buying process is in England!! It just drags on and on and you have the constant fear that someone in the never-ending chain will pull out and it will all fall apart. I feel that since we made the offer and it was accepted we have been holding our breath! Holding our breath whilst the next people in the chain found somewhere and the next people etc etc.
Then holding our breath whilst that was finalised. Then waiting for all the documentation to be collated and agreed. Holding our breath for all the surveys to be done and for all the contents lists to be completed. Don't get me started on people being petty about curtain rails!!
To be fair i think we have been lucky (touch-wood) as i think the whole process could have been a lot worse, but it has still been a constant worry nevermind terribly expensive!!
One issue we did have was that when we received the land registry documentation the boundary line on our new house didn't match up with the property we had been shown, the documentation showed the garden as half the size it actually was!! Yikes! So that all went back to our solicitors to resolve as without the whole garden the house would not be suitable for us........cue a loooong period of us holding our breath and keeping our fingers crossed. After weeks and weeks the land registry finally sorted it all out and that was all fine.....phew!
So last Friday we went to our solicitors and signed the paperwork.......Whoop whoop!!
Now we just wait for everyone else to sign and agree on a date, provisionally the 12th November. So less than 2 weeks away!
Here is our timeline if anyone is interested:
accepted an offer on our house - mid July
made an offer on new house - end of July
signed contacts - 26th October
potentially move into new house - 12th November
So its been 4 months from start to finish which is longer than we hoped for but not as bad as it could have been.
So our new house........here it is.......
.
What do you think? I love it and have done from the moment i saw it! We looked at 16.....yes 16 houses in total and this was the only one that i had a real reaction to. Our new family home.
What is the house buying process like in other places i wonder? Is England better or worse in comparison?