Podiatrist and businesswoman Val Stewart is to bid a fond farewell to Keswick at the end of this month after 26 years living and working in the town.
But she admits she will miss her many patients and friends she has in the town — and of course the fabulous views from her Footworks Podiatry Clinic overlooking Fitz Park.
Val, 71, is finally retiring and moving to be with her husband Alvin Howard, who she married last year.
She will be living in a village near Bath where he works as a chartered architect.
Val and Alvin were teenage sweethearts. He was her first boyfriend when they met as students in 1968 but both went their separate ways and settle down to raise families.
However, thanks to a chance meeting in Keswick four years ago, they became friends and then rekindled their romance and tied the knot at Crosthwaite Church last September.
Val moved to Keswick in 1995 and originally operated a chiropody practice visiting people’s homes but in February 1996 she opened her first practice off Lake Road.
She then worked alongside Eric Duncan at The Seams, until she moved into her present practice on Greta Side, overlooking the river in 2000.
“The view and the sounds of the running river were wonderful.
“However, in 2015, during Storm Desmond, the river came inside, but that was the only time I flooded, and the benefits of this lovely clinic far outweighed that,” she said.
“Over the last 26 years I have seen 4,000 patients —that’s a lot of toes, but I have loved living and working here.
“I will miss the mountains and my river — but, following my marriage, it is now time to retire.
“I am looking forward to having more time for my interests — craft and needlework — and hope to get back to swing dancing. Alvin and I love music and we will be going to concerts as soon as we can.”
Over her years in Keswick, she has raised more than £10,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
Val was born in Scotland but moved to Essex in her early teens and then Oxfordshire. She trained as a bi-lingual PA and then re-trained as a youth and community worker.
She married and had two children, Douglas, who lives in the US, and daughter Naomi, who lives in Oxfordshire.
When her children grew up she started her third and final career, training as a podiatrist, specialising in bio-mechanic podiatry.
