Hi Charlotte, i had to move not long after losing my husband and also loved that house and garden, so pretty much replicated the garden building a pond and creating a similar - or be it smaller version, at the new house, but as Sandra said it isnt the house so much as the person, any house without them is going to feel empty.
For me weekends were the worst - i had work during the week which wasnt fulfilling but at least distracting, but stepping through the door on a friday night knowing i would probably not speak too another human until monday was difficult and i would find myself lingering trying to put it off - and really jealous that colleagues were looking forward too their weekend and now mine held nothing but emptiness - sometimes it still gets to me a bit that i used to be first out of the door but not now, and in winter when i used to get home to a lit fire and a hot meal it was hard to step into the cold and make my own tea, in the early days i actually didnt bother to be honest. - There were always the big things i missed but the little things like that end up being the triggers we dont anticipate.
Then i started just finding something that became a friday night treat - creating something that would make that prospect less daunting, - nothing major maybe a hot bath with candles or some new music or a film and chocolate - I know it doesnt sound like much but creating anything that will welcome you in through the door - a vase of flowers, a favourite ornament, a poster or saying a warm rug can make a difference to stepping in too the house.
In the process of doing the garden i found that actually being in the garden was the least lonely place, because i was never really alone there was the wildlife and it was never as still and silent and dead as the house so i focussed the rest of the weekend very much on being out there, and i still do that except in really extreme weather, as i built myself a little shelter and surounded it with his favourite plants and bird feeders and a small water feature - in winter i can light a fire in a fire pit next too it at night and it is fine being there on my own because i designed it to be somewhere to spend time on my own it wasnt somewhere we had shared but it was somewhere i had built for me with representations f him in the plants i chose.
It sounds contrary to instinct of what we want to do,when we want to have them back in our whole life - to create our own special place seems to be shutting them out - maybe it was a place to escape grief for a while i cant really explain it, but it helps me.