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Original poster

If you have a second home...

24 replies

SpringMeadows · 25/10/2023 13:24

If you have a second home when you are staying there and you go out, do you refer to it as 'home' e.g. 'shall we go back home now?' or 'we need new towels at home', etc. We don't as we find it odd as home is where we spend most of our time (the vast majority of it) but I'm wondering if that may change in the future once we've had the other place for longer.

What do you refer to it as?

OP posts:

AlwaysPrettyOnTheInside · 25/10/2023 15:35

Home, or 'the house', or the name of the road.

Waystation · 25/10/2023 15:39

“The flat”

Mistymornin · 25/10/2023 15:47

We refer to it as "the house in Cyprus", home is our UK house.

Freetodowhatiwant · 25/10/2023 16:03

Depends what place we are closest to. If staying at the second home it’s always ‘let’s go home’ or if staying at home home it’s home. If staying at home and going to visit the second home it will also be ‘going to xxxxx (town name)’ although confusingly I say ‘home to xxxx’ and call both of them homes. I would also say going home to xxxxx when going to my parents place where I grew up.

WhitewitchYorkshire · 25/10/2023 16:22

Hymn, I might put this question to those poor souls currently in a living hell in Gaza….

LakeTiticaca · 25/10/2023 16:30

WhitewitchYorkshire · 25/10/2023 16:22

Hymn, I might put this question to those poor souls currently in a living hell in Gaza….

There's always one isn't there 🤬
Give it a rest

Cotswoldbee · 25/10/2023 16:32

WhitewitchYorkshire · 25/10/2023 16:22

Hymn, I might put this question to those poor souls currently in a living hell in Gaza….

Not necessary, normal life does not stop because of conflict elsewhere in the world. With that mindset you could outlaw practically every topic of conversation.

We had a second house for a while and always referred to it just by the name of the village
"Home" has always been the main house where we live day to day.

Wednesdaysotherchild · 25/10/2023 16:35

It’s also home, the cottage name or “the cottage” as opposed to our 50s ex council semi, which is (roadname).

macshoto · 25/10/2023 16:39

"Home", or more often "the flat" (for both of our city flats) when in either city, and "the house", "home" or (when away) "name of county" or "house name" for the main house.

WeWereInParis · 25/10/2023 16:41

If you have a second home when you are staying there and you go out, do you refer to it as 'home' e.g. 'shall we go back home now?'

If I'm on holiday I refer to the rented villa/cottage/whatever as "home" in that context.

therealcookiemonster · 25/10/2023 16:48

don't have a second home because cookie monsters are unfairly discriminated against in the workplace and its really hard to find a paying job (no Gordon, i didnt eat all the macarons!) but home is wherever there are cookies ...

MyBlueDiary · 25/10/2023 16:51

Home is wherever we are staying, so I would indeed say “let’s go home” or “we have some at home”. If in one house and talking about the other, I refer to it by the name of the county - “we have one of those in Dorset”.

Bookist · 25/10/2023 16:53

One of them we refer to as The (European Country It Is In) House. One we refer to as The (Market Town It Is In) House. The other one we're hoping to buy soon is just called The AirBnB, because that's what we plan to do with it.

We own a few rental properties which are just referred to by the name of the road they're on. The house which we've lived in for the last 17 years, and where our DCs grew up is the only place we actually call 'home.'

Bookist · 25/10/2023 16:55

WhitewitchYorkshire · 25/10/2023 16:22

Hymn, I might put this question to those poor souls currently in a living hell in Gaza….

Yes, because I'm sure they'd be delighted to answer your spurious questions, whose only aim is to make yourself appear morally superior.

weegiemum · 25/10/2023 17:04

We refer to our current house as xxx home (name of city) and our second home as xxx (name of house). Second home was our only home for 10 years, was where we brought the children after they were born, was where they spent the first few years of their lives.

We relocated for a few different reasons and were very lucky to be able to hang on to our first home. We go back several times a year (it's very rural, in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a much nicer house than our current new build) and we let it out to tourists (very often friends and family) when we're not there.

Dh and I plan to retire there. If we can persuade our children to let us, they all want to go back and live there too!!

FeelInvisable · 25/10/2023 18:25

When we are is our first home down south we call the northern home "up north". When we are staying in the northern home we refer to it as home.

nearlywinteragain · 25/10/2023 19:06

We tend to call our weekend place "the cottage, or the lake"
It feels more like home than our work/city place which we tend to call "city" house.

I can't imagine people in Gaza give a stuff what others call their properties. It is hardly a pressing issue for them currently.

Intelligenthair · 25/10/2023 19:07

Depends where the staff are 😜

SisterMichaelsHabit · 25/10/2023 19:10

When we lived abroad and had a house in the UK we referred to whichever one was our base at the time as "home" and the other one as "the house" or "the flat" depending on where we were.

DaphneMoo · 25/10/2023 19:11

UK house is home but holiday house is referred to as home when we are there. If referring to it when are in UK (home) we refer to it as the name of the country

LovelyGreenCushions · 25/10/2023 20:09

I call one home and DH calls the other home . The dog knows them both by the city they are in.

Original poster

SpringMeadows · 26/10/2023 17:09

Interesting we are not the only ones not to call it 'home.' I felt like we weren't really feeling the love for it even though we adore the place. But it seems it's fairly usual not to call your second home 'home.'

OP posts:

CutesyUserName · 26/10/2023 17:21

When we are not in the same country, we just refer to it as 'the house in (country name)' or 'the (village name) house'.

When we are in the same country but out and about, we call it home.

ChienneDesFromages · 26/10/2023 17:26

No. The house we live in is ‘home.’ The other house we own is ‘the chalet’. As in, ‘the chalet’s got a mouse infestation again’, ‘Jean Luc says the new roof on the chalet will be 28000 euros’, ‘where are the hot water bottles? Oh, we left them at the chalet’

While we own the place, it was inherited and is very much an extended family residence. Full of other people’s skis, travel cots, girlfriends, Cluedo (3 copies, why?), wine stored in the sauna etc.

Except when it needs a 28000 new roof, then the rest of the family suddenly remembers it’s our’s!

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