Escape to the Country annoyances.

[DontEscapeToTheCountry]

Why is there a new part where they show them standing on their doorstep chatting like a couple of vagrants?

Why when they show an elderly couple a kitchen or living room that you could host a barn dance in, do they say that it's much too small? What are these people doing in their kitchens that requires so much space?

And why, when they say that they want a 3 bedroom home with no stairs and a small garden, do they show them Chatsworth House?

They always want to keep alpacas or run holiday lets (or both).

Yesterday, the woman featured hadn’t even visited the place she was planning on buying a house in?!? Who just says i am going to move there, without ever going there, even though it is only an hour or two away!

Who just says i am going to move there, without ever going there, even though it is only an hour or two away!

Approximately 3/4 of the families on Wanted Down Under.

Why do people go on these shows then? Do they get paid?

Although Australia/NZ is decidedly not just a few hours away but so many of them have never even visited and are still set on moving there.

They never ever buy one of the properties, it must be soul destroying!

I don't reckon most of them ever intend to buy/move; probably lying about their budgets in the first place to widen the net of amazing houses that they're shown.

It's just a fantasy thing where they get to go and look around beautiful houses and also be on TV. It's one step up from on here when we all clamour to look at a 'special' Rightmove link that somebody posts.

I'm reminded of the thread from a little while back, where a couple posed as potential buyers and visited houses that were for sale as a hobby, as often as they could.

Spent hours there, asking loads of questions, often going into surprisingly specific minutiae; always took their clipboard and crib sheet and never remotely interested in actually buying the house.

😂😂😂it's so fucking tinkly and jolly!

Why do people go on these shows then? Do they get paid?

They get to go on TV - and bore excite everybody they ever meet about it for the rest of their lives. "When we appeared on ETTC" is the upper-middle-class British equivalent of "This one time at band camp" !

I don't watch it often but did a couple of weeks ago as it was in my area of Scotland. Every single room the ladies were shown was greeted by "Oh wow"". I was shouting at the telly by the end. After all that, it said they were looking in a totally different part of Scotland.

Do any of the participants ever buy a house that they've been shown?

It makes me laugh when they're shown a tiny bedroom and the host says "A good sized bedroom" which you'd need to sidle along the side of the bed and wardrobe to move anywhere.

Know people who have been on the programme who actually bought the houses😀

I would be all tinkly and jolly if I had as much money to spend on a house as some of the people on ETTC do.

Doing the "local hobbies" the 1 I watched yesterday they were segwaying I laughed so much 😂

When they show them a converted flat in mansion / Hall, that’s at the top of their budget already, but neglect to mention the no doubt extortionate service charge / fees.

"We'd like to be rural and not overlooked but with two pubs, post office (good luck with that one!), butcher, baker, greengrocer and Tesco Extra all within walking distance. Period features please but well insulated with high ceilings, large windows and a modern kitchen. Large garden to grow our own veg and keep chickens but easily maintained and won't take up much time as we'd like to be relaxing on the large patio area. Downsizing but need 5 'good sized' bedrooms for when all the family come to stay.
Oh, and close to a big city for the theatres and restaurants, close to the beach and ideally within easy reach of a mainline train and airport. But not noisy."

I think that's all the boxes ticked.

My ex neighbours house was featured on that poor relation of a property show where Phil Spencer did it on his own. The name escapes me.

Anyway, back to ETTC, cracks me up when the 6ft 2 husband has to duck to enter the bedroom.
Aye right, sure that's OK in broad daylight and the show's host is saying "oh mind that beam Julian" but who would even consider buying a house that could potentially give you concussion every time you went off to bed!

I’ve found my people. I love this show, it’s escapism for me. But yes two retired adults who want huge properties in the middle of nowhere, young couples with 1.2 million to spend, period features but actually want something modern, want a dog, want chickens, want Alpacas, yes I love Jules too. And yes the weird couple who held hands like they were wrestling, and the guiding on the back DHs.

Don’t forget the bit where they say the budget and it’s only enough to buy a 2 bed hovel on the main road

",I won't be able to fit my kitchen table that seats 40 or my grand piano in" when downsizing.

Well sell them and buy a bistro table and an upright piano there's only Marjorie and Roger living there most of the time because the offspring Fenellla has moved to the Australian outback; Toby is living with his boyfriend in Manchester and Lucinda is on a gap year in Peru. None of them would consider living in rural Shropshire/Norfolk/Cumbria with Ma and Pa.

Gets me how no-one asks if these period houses are haunted 🤷‍♀️

• like how often do these people host parties? You need a huge entertainment area?
• part time surf instructor from Leicestershire somehow has millions of pounds
• no thinking of practicalities. Kids school and hobbies? No problem, let's just move to a random area of the county. How about shops and services? Totally irrelevant.
• elderly couples happily to look for house with three floors and a huge yard
• Redesigning the whole house including the wallpaper and people livign there has zero say to anything

We know people who went on it and they were shown houses they’d already looked at and discounted. But had to pretend they hadn’t. So it was all pretty pointless.

I love the long and stilted questions that they clearly force the couple to ask the local expert.

There's been a long and fascinating history of frog whispering in Little Wellieboot Upon Hampton since 1683. What is it about this particular village that makes it such a hotspot for the Wiltshire frog whispering community?"

I notice that all the sofas have union jack cushions on them and am convinced the goffer carries them around for each show.

Why don’t you switch off your television set and go out and do something less boring instead? (Realise only a few posters will get the reference 😁)

Awful programme of smug people "who have worked all their lives" Who bloody well hasnt! Like a couple of 70 year olds need a 4/5 bed house when DC left home? I avoid it like the plague!