Bad behavior and location

We have adopted a stray who was pretty ferral when we first got her. At the time we were living in an apartment when she started sneaking into the patio to eat the food I left out for the strays. That was almost 6 months ago and up until the beginning of this month even though she is almost always indoors now she was still really mean to our kittens.

All of a sudden at the beginning of this month when we moved from AZ to WA and moved into a house in a really small little country town she began playing with the kittens and even allows us to pick her up.

For me it is just amazing what taking her out of a location where she spent many years (from what I am told) has done for her.

Anyone else heard of location affecting an animals behavior?

No, that is really nice to hear though. Maybe she just didnt' feel comfortable there. Always scared and such. It is really nice that you took her with you when you moved.
I bet she sensed that and felt more comfortable with the kittens.