Aibu for considering a house with a garden of this size?

[ForeverHomeSearcher]

I've name changed as this could out me.
Dh and I are considering moving in the next year.

The area we like just doesn't have the space we want in our price range so we're casting our net a bit wider and considering doing work to get the house we want.

The plan is that this house would be our home for the next 20 years. We've currently got a young toddler with another planned in the next couple of years.

My husband really values space and not feeling too overlooked. We're looking in quite central areas though so this is tricky to find.

We've seen a house that is great location wise. It's currently only 3 beds and we'd need to extend. It may be that we can't get it at a cheap enough price to extend within our budget.

The other issue is the size of the garden. It's nearly half an acre. It's been split into sections of lawn surrounded by mature beds. Whilst I enjoy gardening, with a small one, I haven't had much chance to do it in the last year. I can't help but think we'd be mad to take on this garden even if we could do the extension.

I'd be interested to hear from people who have a similar size garden and how they find. One option would be to get a gardener in every month to mow the lawns but that might cost quite a bit.

Sorry, can't post an actual photo of the garden as I've name changed.

I would get rid of most of the beds - maybe try to move them to the boundaries, have lawn everywhere and get a ride-on mower.

but beware of falling into the trap of thinking you need more space, when actually what you need is less stuff.
I couldn't disagree with this more. It's not stuff the problem for most of us, it's breathing space. I have a happy house because we all have at least 1 room to ourselves, my kids have their own room, I have a place to work from home and can have guests staying around easily.

It really isn't just "stuff". Crowded houses are a nightmare. Some people love lovely cute but tiny cottages, but others like me can't think of anything worst.

Bigger houses are also so much easier to furnish and clean!

Get a quote from a local gardener, how much to keep this maintained to a reasonable state, x hours per week at £y per hour, calculate annual cost, factor into your budget just like you would factor in ground rent or service fees.

Take it is you can. Land is always worth the investment. A plot that size might lend itself to division and planning permission for another building plot. This world help pay off your existing mortgage.

In the mean time either get a sit and ride mower and make quick work of a grass cut every two weeks or seed it with meadow flowers and enjoy the view.

Win win, don't be put off.

We have a garden that size, it isn't manicured but it looks ok with regular mowing and a gardener one day a month. If you aren't precious about it and don't have aspirations to join the Open Gardens Scheme, it should be fine. And a slightly overgrown garden is perfect for wildlife

Ours is three acres. Turn as much of it to lawn as you can. Get a ride on. We can cut ours on about an hour and a half. No biggie

I was faced with this with a previous house. It was an acre and I had two small children.

I left a 1/4 acre strip as wild meadow flowers. Planted an orchard with easy mow strips in between the trees and left the rest as flat grass that was easy to mow. Had a few established flowering shrubs to mow around that added colour.

My acre required a mow l (easy to do ) every 2-3 weeks weather depending. We had a chap that would mow if we needed. Apart from the occasional pruning of shrubs that was it.

You poor thing

It sounds ideal, DH and I would love that. Our small/overlooked garden is the ONE thing about our home that always aggravates us. Big gardens = privacy. Plus I want fruit trees, greenhouses & a veg garden!

We have a very large garden. We tried doing it ourselves when we first moved in. It took all afternoon mowing and many arguments. So we have a gardener who comes in every other week, cuts the lawn and disposes of all the grass cuttings. Best investment ever.

I have a beautiful garden and am considering downsizing but I will genuinely miss the garden if that’s the price I pay for a better location. I like the fact that it offers a gap between me and the noise for a start.

I think you’ll enjoy it

Thanks all. It's putting my mind at ease. We'd definitely need to cost up getting a gardener and factor that in.

Look at robot mowers - I saw one demonstrated, costs about £45 a year to run, or the proximity of teenagers to earn a few bob at the weekend.

Agree with others that the land will be fab. You can grow your own veg with your dc.

But surely you should be asking the question of your DH if he is the one who values space, how willing is he to set aside time to work at weekends to maintain it? Why is this all falling to you?

If you do take it on, try and live with it unchanged for the first year or two and take photos and take note of what grows where and when and the way the sun moves across the garden etc. Think about it at length and only start to change it when you have a firm idea of what you want, and believe me that will change the longer the time you spend in it. It's easier then to decide what plants and trees you want to keep , what you want to dispose of, and where you want to put seating etc.

I was lucky to get a bonus from work last year - I spent it on having gardeners come in a total of 4 times. All him indoors needed to do was mow occasionally. The gardeners get the place looking nice enough that we can look out and enjoy the view without all the kneeling, weeding etc. It's not perfect but it's good enough.

You could also consider making off street parking for several cars.
No parking wars with neighbours, you could eventually be a four car family when your kids start driving. When you sell up in 20 years this would be a great selling point.