My Life in Houses

[DebbieTheCat]

Inspired by the book I'm currently reading of the same title (by Margaret Forster).

From childhood I've lived in

• Detached 4 bed
• Uni halls of residence (student)
• Mid terrace off a dual carriageway (student)
• Maisonette (student)
• Flat above a shop (student)
• 1 bed Ground floor flat (first rung on property ladder!)
• 2 bed top floor flat
• 3 bed Link terrace (only the upstairs was attached the flat next door)
• 3 bed detached
• 5 bed detached

I'm amazed there's such a variety, never really thought about it before.
My favourite (obviously apart from current home) was the one bed flat, because it was the first time I had somewhere that was properly "mine" and I felt like an official grown up 😂

What's your life in houses?

Upstairs maisonette (council)
2 bedroomed house (council)
3 bedroomed house (council)

Then left home
Bedsit with shared bathroom (rented from shop owner)
3 bedroomed end terrace (owned, with boyfriend)
4 bedroomed semi (owned with boyfriend)

Broke up with boyfriend
2 bedroomed flat (owned by me)
4 bedroomed detached house (owned with husband)
3 bedroomed semi (private rented with husband)
3 bedroomed semi (now owned outright with husband)

1969-88 Listed farmhouse 16C home of Nicholas Culpepper. 4 bed

88-90 Student halls of residence.

90-91 Listed gatehouse folly that looked like a three tier iced wedding cake. 3 bed.

92-95 Sandstone cottage next to a motorway under a pylon. 3 bed.

95-99 Cottage in a chocolate box village we had to knock down and rebuild. Cost less than a modern new car to buy. 2 bed.

99 to date. Small Estate, 7 bedrooms, 30 acres, ponds, streams, woodlands, kitchen garden, folly.
We are thinking about downsizing and I'm realising how much of my self worth is tied to the building I live in and perhaps that makes me rather shallow.

@ChocolateTruffleAssortment
@Movinghouseatlast (very apt username 👌)

I love all her books, also Hunter Davies's too.

I totally agree it is a very boring but somehow interesting thread 😂

I want to know more about @CheeryPenisBeaker time in the huge creepy house please!

1930s semi (with grandparents).
Rented first floor flat (with Mum and Dad).
Holiday cottage in Wales (Dad was at uni there).
Two bed rented cottage.
Two bed semi detached bungalow (first house of their own!)
Three bed semi detached bungalow.

Next three are rentals:
First floor two roomed flat with shared bathroom (just me).
Semi detached bungalow (shared with another girl).
Semi detached house (shared with a friend).

Three bed Victorian end of terrace in slightly downmarket area (my first house!!)
Three bed dormer bungalow in pretty market town.

Had to think about this.

1. Parental home 1 (rented) - Edwardian 3 bed semi (outside loo, no bathroom, no central heating)
2. Parental home 2 - (Staff house - came with my dad"s job) Edwardian 3 bed flat (I shared room with two other siblings). But it had central heating and an inside loo - luxury 😁.
3. Uni - three different halls of residence.

• Shared room y1
• single rooms y2 and y3

4. Rented 1 bed basement flat.

5. 1 bed flat 1970s block (provided by first workplace due to relocation - staff flat)

6. 1 bed flat (conversion) (bought)

7. 1 bed staff flat 1960s block (provided by new company as part of relocation package)

8. 1 bed maisonette - bought

9. 1960s 3 bed terrace - bought

10. 1990s 5 bed detached - bought - been here over 25 years.

I don't suppose staff flats/accommodation provision are really a thing now. I've lived on three.

Not sure it makes you shallow unless you judge other people by their accommodation.

But may suggest you don’t value you for just being you??

Sounds one for therapy given what sounds like a glorious childhood home!

Single story Farmhouse in NZ (moved when I was 6 weeks old so can’t remember it!)
Single story Farmhouse NZ
Single story Farmhouse NZ
Modern 3 bed new build bungalow (aged 12) NZ (moved after 18 months as dad got depressed having retired from farming)
Huge two story farmhouse (was near derelict when we moved in - I LOVED having stairs) NZ
Modern detached house in California (high school exchange student)
Student flat in San Francisco (I wasn’t a student but moved in with boyfriend)
Flatshare in London
Bigger flatshare in London
Basement flatshare in London
Townhouse flatshare in London
Flat above shop (first purchase) London
Terraced house for past 30 years (family house) London

@DebbieTheCat is the book good?

From newborn to 18;
3 bed detached bungalow
4 bed semi
3 bed semi
3 bed semi
3 bed maisonette
3 bed detached bungalow

From 18-now
(university)
4 bed apartment
4 bed apartment
4 bed apartment
house share
1bed apartment
2 bed terrace
4 bed detached
4 bed terrace
2 bed cottage
3 bed bungalow

to be continued…

@Longhotsummers I find it fascinating, so a very good read but I do love books about social history.
Here's the blurb on the back...

Newborn - rural cottage in UK
Until 2 - rural cottage in Portugal
2-3 - staff cottage in the woods behind the school where my mum taught
3-5 - country pub
5 - 3 bed semi council house (with grandparents for six months while parents renovated farmhouse)
6-18 - farmhouse
19 - staff house attached to country inn where I worked
20-23 - university accommodation
23-25 - four bed semi house share
25-30 - 2 bed rural cottage
30-35 - 2 bed flat
35-38 - 3 bed semi
38-43 - rural house in Portugal (about 2km from the cottage I spent my 1st birthday in)

2 bed, 1 bath cottage
2, then 3 bed, 1 bath terrace
2 bed, 1 bath terrace
3 bed, 1 bath semi
4 bed, 1.5 bath semi
4 bed, 3.5 bath detached

born in a above shop flat
3 bed house
hotel room
house annexe
2 bed house
hospital
2 bed flat
3 bed house
3 bed house
2 bed bungalow
2 bed house
2 bed flat
lived rough 2 years
sofa surfing
derelict house
1 bed house
2 bed house
1 bed flat
2 bed flat
2 bed flat
caravan
caravan
caravan
artic lorry
1 bed flat
2 bed house
1 bed house
motorhome
caravan
1 bed flat
1 bed flat
2 bed flat
2 bed house
1 bed cottage
1 bed bungalow
1 bed flat
2 bed house

One has moved around a lot, so not in any particular order;

Buckingham Palace
Clarence House
Highgrove House
Birkhall
Llwynywermod
Windsor Castle
Holyroodhouse
Hillsborough Castle
Sandringham House
Balmoral
Castle of Mey
Kensington Palace
Tamarisk House

One also went to a boarding school, but it wasn't a very pleasant experience and so one chooses to erase that from one's memory.

2 bed cottage
2 bed end terrace
Student halls
2 bed flat
3 bed semi
3 bed semi
3 bed terraced

2 bed terrace (0-2)
5 bed detached (2-18)
Halls (uni yr 1)
5 bed semi (shared with friends uni yr 2)
4 bed semi (shared with friends uni yr 3)
2 bed cottage (bought with boyfriend)
2 bed flat (bought on own when we split up)
3 bed semi (bought with ex-husband)
2 bed townhouse (bought on own after separation)
5 bed semi (bought with now partner)

Apart from uni - all houses are within about a 8 mile radius of each other!

Yes, I love all her books and Hunter Davies. So sad she died so young. I was irrationally cross with Hunter for having a relationship after she died. I know it was stupid of me but I think it was the fact he wrote about it when he and Margaret had written so much about each other.

Yes, my name is very apt! The list of houses we almost bought before the one we're in now is almost as long as the houses I've actually lived in!

As an aside, Hunter Davies' biography of The Beatles is brilliant.

Pretty sure this is all but could be a couple missing - there were other 2/3 month stays in this lot too

3 bed semi bungalow
3 bed terrace
5 bed semi
room in catered halls
8 bed student let
3 bed flat share
3 bed house share
5 bed house share
4 bed flat share
2 bed semi then boyfriend owned
3 bed terrace also owned by above bf
4 bed detached as above
2 bed council flat after leaving above bf
2 bed rental flat new bf
1 bed rental flat
1 bed flat purchased with then boyfriend
room in a family home after that break up
2 bed house share
1 bed owned on my own with duff freehold, sold at loss
friends spare room
2 bed rental
1 bed then boyfriend owned
3/4 bed terrace owned with above bf/ now exh
2 bed owned with sole mortgage

next property is mine and dps fantasy retirement bungalow by the sea when our respective children have flown their respective nests 😆

Flat above shop
Terraced house
Maisonette
Terraced house x2
University halls of residence
Room in shared terraced house (university)
Subsidised (work) flat
Room in shared terraced house x2
Two bed flat x2 (Moved in with boyfriend now husband)
Maisonette
Semi
End terrace house (purchased. Hopefully forever home)

3 bed semi
uni halls
6 bed share
4 bed share
1 bed rental flat above shop
1 bed rental in flat block with garden
1 bed rental terrace
1 bed rental flat block
2 bed rental flat block
1 bed flat - owned
2 bed house - owned.
3 bed house - owned
2 bed house - owned (post divorce)

4 bed Victorian terrace
1970s 4 bed detached
3 bed bungalow in Australia
4 bed 1930s semi
Halls of residence London
Modest apartment in France (au pair)
Swanky apartment in France (au pair)
House share Birmingham. (student)
House share Birmingham (student)
Paying guest France (student)
Victorian terrace - house share
Victorian terrace - house share
1950s ex council house
5 bed 1970s detached

Think that's everywhere.

Interesting @Climbinghigher I always thought I valued myself but as I said downsizing discussions make me think that's actually wrapped around property.

I guess being undiagnosed dyslexic/adhd and subsequently a school failure with no real qualifications took its toll.
My adult goals were to run a business successfully enough to own the dream house and that's hard to let go.
I'm not sure who I am without the farm. Weird.

Housing association flat (first year or so)
Three bed semi (till I was 4)
Vast Victorian mansion with big gardens (career success for my dad, plus it was run down and parents renovated it)
Halls at uni
Terraced house at uni
Halls for postgrad
Back to parents massive house to save up
Tiny studio flat in London
2 bed flat on outskorts
Tiny house on outskirts of London (first purchase)
Three bed house in village in SE
Five bed house

3 bed suburban semi
Halls
Victorian Terrace (student)
6 bed house (student)
8 bed Victorian house (student)
3 bed suburban semi (childhood home)
3 bed German flat (military housing)
3 bed semi (military)
4 bed semi (military)
4 bed Cyprus (military)
3 bed terrace (military)
4 bed semi (military)
3 bed ex- military house (owned)

Pub
Pub
Pub
Pub
Pub
Pub
Pub
Student halls
House
Apartment

3 bed terrace
3 bed semi
4 bed semi
1 bed flat
3 bed semi
3 bed terrace
3 bed semi
4 bed semi