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!

@Knittedfairies yes, at least in Friends they tried to cover themselves by saying it was originally Monica's grandmother's rent controlled apartment!

fwiw, my family is from Pasadena. I don't know their exact salaries, but I will wager a darn sight less than calTech postdocs. Many in family have bought property -- a condo at least. Maybe Sheldon & Leonard have co-bought their condo & Penny is only renting .

For people who can afford to buy bigger than a condo, these are what I think of as typical US homes. There are lots of estates very much like these in my town, so not so different -- probably much smaller front yards in UK.

@lljkk Pasadena will be on the higher end of property prices in the US I'd have thought and a more densely populated area? Vs areas in states like Mississippi, the Dakotas, Kansas for example?

IRL, many postdocs are likely to move elsewhere after a year or two - either a different uni or outside of academia. So the setup where they're renting rather than owning a property is possibly quite realistic. Especially if it's the sorts of people who simply wouldn't want to be bothered looking after a house and yard.

I'm in one of the least populated counties in the UK. Weather is very pleasant, that was one of the reasons to come here. We are north of Watford but local geography matters.

I'm not telling you where it is though because it's nice that everybody doesn't live here! And yes local wages are a lot lower and yes we have a bus every two hours during the week and no we don't have a railway station for miles.

Most of the Houses in Jesus's link are either in the Central Belt e.g Hamilton, Greenock and not necessarily the nicest locations (I have relatives in both). Or in Highland/Moray, which are lovely but as a pp said, jobs may be scarce, prices for goods and services are higher due to transport costs and amenities are fewer between.

and further between 🙄

@whatshebininagain it's similar in the UK, look at houses around the Fens and up to Boston, you can find some beautiful houses on huge plots for less than £350k, but very limited high paying employment in the area.

The houses we are on our walks are every American looking, I love them. Will attempt to attach a pic!

Hi notheragain

Scotland is, for the moment at least, in the UK 😀 but I used to live in the East Midlands and agree with your point.

MrsVMorgan

Those remind me of the "posh" houses on the Lincoln/Kingswood in Corby 😁😁😁

@whatshebininagain haha sorry I didn't realise you were listing places from Scotland! I thought you were listing places in America I hadn't heard of them lol.

It would be interesting if any American Mumsnetters could say whether the housing depicted in the US is in any way realistic

Not in my experience because we live in a city so we have a 2 bed condo (condo = a flat that we own), most of our friends locally live in condos or townhomes (newer style terraced houses). A single family home on our block would cost upwards of $4 million. But we do have a separate washing machine and dryer, not in the kitchen, and 2 huge walk in closets.

We have a few friends in the suburbs and they do live in huge houses on purpose built developments but the yards are all tiny, some aren’t even fenced, and there’s no privacy from the neighbours so it’s like living in a goldfish bowl and you have to get permission from the HOA (homeowners association) to do stuff as mundane as put some raised beds in your garden. Can’t walk to anything. It makes me shudder.

The Home Alone house mentioned up thread is in a great neighbourhood and near the beach, I’d totally live there given the chance!

Americans aren’t appalled washing machines are in the kitchen just wonder why they aren’t dishwashers instead.

I'm with you on this OP. This is my dream home, from the film Marley and me!

Not all - I do have one friend who keeps mentioning it - but I grew up with our washer and dryer in a cupboard in the kitchen in a 1920s house in the suburbs so did not think it too odd. Our house did have central air and “forced” heat....sigh.... The “laundry room” you see in magazines and in the US now is a fairly new thing - started in 80s I think - before then they were in the basement or a cupboard in the kitchen or bathroom.
I’ve also seen American-style houses in a gated development in Hampstead and in Gerrards Cross.
When I think of American houses I think Chevy Chase, MD, suburbs of D.C. or Short Hills or Summit, NJ or anywhere in CT....

Herefordshire is super cheap.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-88893707.html

I'm in a Canadian city and there's a big variety of housing here, especially in the older neighbourhoods. Most new neighbourhoods are pretty homogenous though, with a mix of low-rise condos, townhouses and detached family homes. The houses are generally pretty big but the plots they sit on aren't, they don't usually have big gardens and they are built very close together - they're detached but there might be literally 6' between the sides of your house and the sides of your neighbours' houses. The trend for newer houses is definitely very open-plan as a pp said.

You do get a lot more house for your money here though - the best thing is the basements, it's an entire extra floor worth of space - we have a den room with a kitchen area, a double bedroom, a full size bathroom, another room that we use as a 'gym' with the Peloton bike etc. and a huge storage space in our basement.

This is a big, new house in the fancy part of our neighbourhood. It's beautifully finished with very high-end appliances etc., as most new houses around here are, but they're not what you'd call characterful. They're always marketed for sale very bland and unlived-in looking. They are easy to live in though, you get lots of high-end convenience for your CA$1.8 million! You can see in the aerial photos how close together the houses are though:
www.remax.ca/luxury/ab/calgary-real-estate/27-aspen-ridge-he-sw-wp_id273186804-lst

It is possible to get houses with tons of acreage in the wilderness for relatively little money, but the problem is that they'll likely be in the middle of nowhere, and Canadian 'middle of nowhere' is literally that, you could be hours from anywhere, pretty well cut off in the (long!) winter, and with bears and moose as neighbours rather than people

If I had a spare $2.5 million and wanted to stay near the city I'd buy something like this - huge house on 2 acres just outside the city, about a 10 minute drive to the nearest shops, Tim Horton's etc. I drive through this area all the time as it's right between our neighbourhood and the highway which goes to the mountains/Banff etc. and it's the best of both worlds imo...

calgaryhomes.ca/listing/c4305849-224-horizon-view-gl-rural-rockyview-county-alberta-t3z-3m6/

I get you OP, someone I'll watch a vlog of an American family where there's a postman and SAHM, or mechanic and a nurse or whatever but the houses are always HUGE!

I do love to walk to places from my house though, would hate to be so reliant on my car

@VetOnCall that is stunning. I'm so jealous that you live in Calgary!!

@notheragain4 it is beautiful and I love it here, but the weather can be trying... We had 7 months of snow and temperatures down to -35 and then it seemed to go pretty much straight from that into awful weather this summer including a devastating storm in June that has caused over CA$1.2 billion of damage in the city from hail and flash flooding We personally were fortunate as it mostly hit the NE of the city and we live in the SW, but the damage to homes, businesses and vehicles is awful. If this continues through the summer and then we go right back to the snow at the end of September/beginning of October I might start looking into moving to Hawaii!

www.google.com/amp/s/calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/cost-of-damage-from-weekend-storm-could-total-1-billion-nenshi/wcm/58f0b78e-2db7-4c58-9989-fea4058c6318/amp/