A lighthearted one about escape to the country

[Souredstones]

Aibu to be ragey at the middle aged couples with no children buying up family homes in rural locations?

For some unknown reason this makes me really cross with this programme!

[Crumbledwalnuts]

I'm just stunned that anyone can think that having bought and paid for a house isn't enough to entitle you to actually live in the fucking thing. Oh no, there'll be some more-entitled grabby fucker along at any moment to tell you that THEY should have that house. Unbelievable.

Couldn't have said it better Shelley. It IS unbelievable.

[exoticfruits]

I think that is why I find it so addictive ShellyBoobs- you meet such loony views!
People who want the childless people out of their large home couldn't afford to buy it anyway- if they could they would be living in one already!

[RustyBear]

Most of the people on Escape to the Country are middle-aged, not old - they will probably have at least 20 years health in front of them before they have to start thinking about downsizing to a more convenient location closer to amenities.

My dad died last November aged 102, still living independently in a rural village on a hill in Devon - he coped very well with a meals service and a carer coming in by the day: it was only right at the end that we were beginning to think about having someone living in with him. Which of course would mean that he needed the extra bedroom. Old doesn't necessarily mean helpless.

[ShellyBoobs]

exoticfruits - I know, I think it's the same for me; I can't stop myself coming back for another dose.

I must often look ridiculous sat here with an incredulous/baffled/gormless look on my face as I read some of the more 'extreme' views held by various posters.

It's good to see it's not only me who finds it a little bizarre here at times.

[digerd]

We get 25% off our rates for being a single householder.

[exoticfruits]

Just a little bizarre? Sometimes I think that I live in a parallel universe.

[alemci]

they would be moaning that it was too large and then expect someone else to maintain it and subsidise it

[BringMeTea]

Shellyboobs, you have the measure of the madness. YY to gormless and speechless sometimes...

[LadyBryan]

I want to Escape to the Country with Jules Hudson.

[BringMeTea]

Team Appleton. All the way. Only gay man i fancy. Saw him in Uniqlo recently. He is utterly gorgeous.

[OnIlkelyMoorBahtat]

Yeah, how dare the childfree buy nice properties. Selfish people, so they are.

[Crumbledwalnuts]

Plus when they buy them it's a cool 20K or more to the Treasury, so moaners should quit it.

[Fillyjonk75]

I've seen quite a range of ages of people from what I've seen on ETTC and some have young families and a lot don't have families yet and are planning for when they do. Sure, it tends to the wealthier end of the market, but that's the idea isn't it? Moving out of a city and getting more space.

What does annoy me is when people seem overly fussy, contradict themselves as to their requirements or obviously have no serious intention of buying anything.

[Gruntfuttock]

Yes, the couples who say they want to downsize nearly always reject the properties they're shown because they're "too small", even when they're quite spacious but just smaller than their current place. They don't seem willing to accept the reality of downsizing at all.

[nemno]

I wish downsizing didn't mean the rooms get smaller. I will want fewer rooms but want them to be spacious. A 2 bed house with large kitchen through to dining room and a sitting room at least 15'x15' is a rare find. Downsizers moving from commutable areas obviously have money so the compromise they make is more bedrooms than they ideally want.

[LadyBryan]

We're going to move to a larger house in the country that will be our forever home.

I mean, how very dare we have such aspirations. I must remember that once our daughter moves out we must instantly move out so someone else can have it.

[MillionPramMiles]

The only reasonable answer is a hefty tax on second (non resident) homes, rent caps and greater taxes on rental income. It is unreasonable for houses to be prioritised as investments when there is an shortage of affordable, suitable homes.
But fat chance of any of that under a Tory government hell bent on punishing the poor and staying friendly with the wealthy.

Ooops sorry, thought I was posting on the Guardian website :)

[BadLad]

Hi Shelly,

If you want "another dose", have a read of this thread.

here

[babybythesea]

This programme drives me mad too!

But mainly because the people seem to be living in some kind of weird dreamland.

A typical programme seems to involve the couple saying 'we would like:

-A smaller house than my current 3-bed (looking to downsize) with at least five bedrooms because all my family will want to stay (and they will all need an en-suite because I would love nothing better than to spend my life cleaning five toilets).

-Somewhere I can do work to and put my own mark on but which already has the interior décor I really really like (I have heard several people on the show saying things like "oohhh, I couldn't live here - I don't like that wallpaper." WTF???)

• I would like to be in the middle of a village with a lovely community but not able to see any other houses in a ten mile radius.
  

• I need to commute into the middle of the city for work, and would like a journey of no more than 10 minutes, but don't want to live anywhere where I can hear any sort of road.
  

• I want to live in the middle of Devon/Cornwall/the Lake District but have no idea where because I've never visited the area - I did see it on a postcard once though and it looked lovely.
  

• I would like a back garden the size of a football pitch but I don't own a lawnmower so if the grass could never grow that would be great.
  

• I would like an outbuilding we could convert into an office to my own specifications but at no cost and involving no time or work generally on my part.
  

• I have £3.50 that I found down the back of the sofa with which to buy the above property.'

[BadgersRetreat]

i must remember to call the estate agent to tell him that we can't buy the house we've agreed on because we don't have kids, so we don't 'deserve' a nice house and a garden. We must live in a 1 bed flat, apparently.

wow.

[KittensoftPuppydog]

I personally feel like I've done the world a favour by not breeding. And because of this can afford my lovely family sized house. Anyway, the dog appreciates the huge garden.
Luckily we are still free to Make these choices.

[GinOnTwoWheels]

Ha Ha I know someone whose house was featured on ETTC a couple of years ago. It still hasn't sold about 4 years later because their asking price is probably about £200k too much and they won't can't budge on price.

Its a lovely house but I think the buyers on the programme didn't buy any of the houses, for one of the spurious reasons already mentioned.

TBH I wouldn't want a house that big. DP and I live in a small 2 bed semi, admittedly with a much larger than average living room and a good sized outhouse. The only thing I'd change is that the kitchen is stupidly tiny, as in there is no way more than one person can occupy it at anyone one time probably a throwback to the 1950s when only the woman of the house ever entered the kitchen. .

[LadyBryan]

When we were moving here, we viewed a house that had been on ETTC. It was utterly stunning, just an awful position, with some questions over a parcel of land adjacent. I would have jumped if not for that!

I could quite happily move into any of the larger homes featured on it

Having said that we have one child, five bedrooms which sadly due to my incompetant uterus we are unable to fill. Maybe we should be forced to move.