After over five years of living in Colombo (the capital of Sri Lanka) we have had enough and are moving to Galle. Colombo has become less and less pleasant to live in, we are not quite ready to go back to Britain, and we really like Galle.

Galle is a small port town in the Southwest corner of Sri Lanka. Its most notable features are its well preserved Dutch Fort and some incredibly expensive hotels. I have wanted to move their since I went to the first Galle Literary Festival in 2007. My wife, Roshika, has become convinced as congestion and tight security have made Colombo increasingly unpleasant.

In addition to the annual literary festival Galle offers quite a lot for a small town: a film festival is planned, and there are many smaller events. We found a small school with a founder headmistress who we like: the Thomas Gall International School. Unlike many “international schools” (they usually teach a British, American or IB based curriculum) in Asia it is a non-profit. It is only an year old, with few pupils (so small class sizes). It appears to be far better than the schools in Colombo, and deserves to succeed. I am doing a little bit to help — I will be doing a new website for the school.

So far Galle seems to be a friendlier place the Colombo, and saved from being too much of a backwater by the cosmopolitan influence of the many foreigners (mostly British) who live there. Apart from Barbara Gall (who founded the school in memory of her late husband), many other people have been welcoming when we spent a few days there last week, looking for houses and checking that we were happy with the school.

Seneka, the proprietor of the Lady Hill Hotel (the only mid-priced option in Galle: the rest are luxurious and expensive or cheap guest houses) was enormously helpful. There was one house that we wanted to see, but could not because the owner was in Colombo. Senaka knew him, arranged to get the keys by courier and took us there. We are renting it, provided we can get a fixed phone line: there is a shortage of connections and many people use wireless local loops, but those cannot deliver broadband.

A friend of my father-in-law took us around more houses, the other people we met were friendly and helpful. Having a drink at the lovely Lighthouse Hotel we met Juliet Coombe, a British photojournalist who live in Galle with her Sri Lankan husband. She gave us reams of advice on Galle.

We expect life there to be cheaper and less stressful. Roshika will spend less time driving Lucy to school: people in Galle regard a 15 minute commute as a long one. The fort is one of the few place in Sri Lanka I feel comfortable walking around: the narrow streets keep the traffic light and slow, it is far cleaner then Colombo, and the architecture is pleasant.