Most American-esque place in the UK?!

[EnglishDreamer]

I've name changed for this because I'm embarrassed at how ridiculous I sound

I am so jealous of American housing. Every American TV programme I've seen suggests that nearly all of their homes are detached and on amazing plots... I just want to be surrounded by trees and, well, space. I know TV doesn't necessarily reflect real life, but I mean documentaries not dramas etc. And now my brother in law has moved to Canada and has a stunning property like that, which cost less than my tiny box with a postage stamp garden

I don't want to move abroad, so is there anywhere in the UK that can offer this kind of property? Obviously it would be many times the price of most places North America but I need to have a goal, however unattainable
It's not actually the size of the house I dream about, it's the environment around it. Everywhere on our little island is so cramped (for exactly that reason, we just don't have the space to build like they do over there).

Just to add - I do realise that I'm making lots of generalisations here!

Damn, I don't know what other TV people watch... the house in Fresh Prince of Bel Air was way too small and boring for a very wealthy family. That was very incongruous.

I've always thought this, they had a butler but their living space was so average!!

The Hamptons in Worcester Park is an American style housing estate. It also has a small park in the middle of it.

Even 'slummy' style apartments or houses seem a lot more spacious than a decent UK flat.

Real American housing
www.zillow.com/homedetails/10454-164th-St-Jamaica-NY-11433/32138649_zpid/

American TV houses
www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/real-tv-houses-and-how-much-the-cost

Fresh Prince house is at the bottom with an estmated price of $7m

There’s lots of rural areas in the UK. I live in Canada and dream of moving to Northern Ireland where I’d have a much bigger house for a fraction of the price.

What you see on telly is not reflective of very many American lives. Loads of people in the US live in flats, row houses, tower blocks. Some areas are very cheap, some are expensive. Same with Canada. I have a bigger garden than my UK family but house prices are unattainable for anyone not already in this market. If I moved to the other (colder) coast where I know no-one I’d have bags of money.

American telly seldom reflects a wide variety of American lives, it presents a dream that only some can live. And the newer suburbs in Canada and America are boring as hell. I live in a 100+ year old neighbourhood so we can walk to shops, pubs, libraries, banks etc - this is not the case in many, many car-focussed suburbs in North America.

I grew up in a spacious New England suburb, big 60s house, lots of mature trees, old stone walls. The town centre took about 45 minutes to walk to. My brother and parents each live in new builds now in different suburbs. My parents actually had to fight the developer to have a smaller 2-bed bungalow. (They do have a basement the same footprint as the house though. )

@weepingwillow22 that's interesting but it's somewhat limited as the houses are often represented as being in different locations and with Fresh Prince the outside of the house looks grand but the set certainly doesn't, that's what I meant by it looking average considering they had a butler!

Imagine how shite programmes would be if average characters had to be filmed in studio apartments lol.

If you watch queer eye, the homes they do up seem much more 'normal'

I hate the massively open plan aspect of American houses. They just look big village halls with everything in the same room. I much prefer a Victorian house with a separate kitchen, lounge, dining room. Each to their own though.

@Idontlikewednesdays I think that's largely for the ease of filming in a lot cases, the same happens in a lot of UK sitcoms, whilst open plan is very popular, in the houses I have been in in the US (small and big) there are usually additional rooms even if there is a large kitchen/diner with family area.

What about the New Forest?

I hate open plan too. The noise, the smells of cooking. It’s quite popular in newer homes in Canada too and it puts me right off (currently house hunting). It’s housing for extroverts.

Since someone mentioned 'shite weather', our perception when we lived in Pennsylvania for a couple of years was that larger houses were more of a necessity because the weather was often so bad. Too cold in winter, too hot in summer, spring wasn't really a thing... a bit of nice weather in fall. Colossal rain at times, and basements a good idea because of tornadoes.

Windows and porches with mesh because of the insects. Sitting on grass ... urgh, chiggers.

Anyway... there are certainly properties in remote, natural environments in Lancashire. And without the less desirable wildlife that exists in many US states.

• The apartment that the characters in Big Bang Theory live in: utterly ridiculous. Each of the scientists would be earning £100k each (way more for Bernadette) and living in very nice individual detached houses up in the San Gabriel foothills of Pasadena.

I'm not sure what positions they ended up as, but at the start of the series I think they were all postdocs (well, except Howard obv) - average salary at CalTech more in the region of $50-60 K

@Boomerwang

Oh my god why is housing so cheap in Scotland?? I really want to know.

Because there are less jobs and you have to commute further ?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71781996.html I drive past this a few weeks ago and thought it was nice!

Trying watching some of the 'Flipping' shows - Flipping Vegas, Flipping San Diego, Zombie Flippers & Flipping Virgins. They show a range of houses in different places.
The houses in Vegas are often huge but very new on big plots. The ones in San Diego are smaller but more expensive as they're confined more by existing development. Zombie is set in Florida - generally big houses & plots but so much damp & bugs & 🐊. Virgins is set in Atlanta & again houses are bigger with bigger plots of land, often a lot of trees too but prices are closer to UK prices but you get a lot more.
It's fascinating to see them all & what the teams do to them.
Some are so bad though they do just tear them down & start again.

I think you are talking about tract housing, or similar.

Developments of houses built towards the middle of a tract land, seemingly alone in it's own plot.

As others have said, they are wood framed prefabs, not brick built and can be easily modified - if those amazing US make over shows are to be believed.

So your problem is finding a large plot of cheap land and finding the right cheap construction method that will work here in the UK. Remembering that black mould is more common and potentially lethal in the US because of the construction and climate.

When you work it out don't tell anyone - but do pm me

Surrey (Cobham, Esher, Va Water, Weybridge...)
And yes tv portrayal of American homes is pretty accurate. My friends back home live in houses and neighborhoods that look like “Desperate Housewives.”
When we moved to London and bought our flat from a developer he told us that a clothes dryer was a “luxury item.” Appalling.

Do you want the newspaper delivered by someone on a bike casually throwing it on the lawn?

Sex Education on Netflix was filmed in South Wales and Gloucestershire but has very American vibes (despite the characters mainly being English) - so maybe there! I assumed it was filmed in the States til I looked it up.

@my2centsalso is it true Americans are all appalled by us keeping washing machines in the kitchen?

One of the big plot holes in the Big Bang Theory for me was that Sheldon had to have a roommate to pay the bills, yet Penny across the hall lived by herself on a waitress's wage.

We are in Scotland. Our place would be a fortune in South England but because we live here it's less. We have views to die for. And so much space. DH is American so he wanted where we live as apart from the weather it reminds him of home. We even negotiated under price at the time and got it.
It's doable. Depends what you want. We don't have a new build as they usually have no land. We just extended.