How do people relax in huge houses?

[mrsbeeton999]

It’s probably something I’ll never need to worry about but I’ve just been looking at a bit of property porn - huge houses with indoor pool, gym, cinema room. I think I’d never be able to have a relaxing swim in the basement or shut myself in the cinema room as I’d be worried about security in the rest of the house. In my house I can pretty much see all the house from the lounge and it’s easy to check front and back door are locked. I know some people have staff but not everyone in these houses would. I don’t think I’d feel confident swimming or watching a film if I was home alone.

Glad I’m not alone @Slingsanderrors that’s if he even bothered to wake up. Lol

I think it’s because I just feel safe. I feel safe enough to go upstairs and take a shower so I feel safe enough to swim or do whatever else. Whenever DP goes out for the evening I just lock both doors and do whatever I have planned.

I have downsized in the last month from a big 6 bed house which some people would call a mansion in an affluent area. I built the house and equipped it with cameras and a good alarm / panic system plus we have a dog. We lived there for 3 years. The house always attracted a lot of attention from the street. We became the subject of postal and subsequently ID theft. I always felt very nervous in the house on my own as it has a large perimeter with multiple access points. Whenever we went away I could never switch off and was always watching the cameras remotely. It did cause anxiety. A bump in the night would practically send my nerves through the roof.
Our new place is half the size, closer to neighbours and fewer access points ....we are much much happier at night and just don’t worry anymore ...best thing we did! 🙂

I live in what would be considered a 'huge house'.
Someone breaking in hasn't crossed my mind. We don't lock doors during the day (do at night). Haven't been burgled. We have alarms and CCTV on our phone and a camera door bell.

@year5teacher

Oh my god I totally agree. I love living in my flat, I can sleep alone there and feel safe because there’s NOWHERE anyone can hide 😂 even in a small house I feel uneasy because there’s always a whole floor I’m not in, and then the attic... 😳

What about the rest of the occupants in the other flats in your building? 10 Rillington Place was a flat...

Heheh we've got a big old house. Dogs are the thing. No one gets through the gates without them gojng off. To the point where we don't have or need a doorbell. It's very useful. Children aren't audible from room where we watch tv in the evening which was a bit weird to begin with... we shout a lot!

They’re often fitted with really good cctv, and panic alarms in certain rooms.

I think most people imagine you have an extravagant lifestyle full of glittering drinks parties every week, but the reality is somewhat different for my friends and I. It is not Downtown Abbey for anyone in my experience.

Everything requires thought, time and effort to organise. So even if you had a huge pile and hundreds of acres, you might find you are spending half the day looking for the dog, or sorting out what happened to the stone wall in the winds the night before and such things, and perhaps not welcoming fleets of cars arriving with your dearest friends wafting in for an evening of entertainment.

I always just shudder at the thought of cleaning the floors. It must be hell!!!

We don’t have a huge house but we do have a large terrace with three floors. If we’re on the top floor, we wouldn’t hear someone sneaking in.
We were surprised at the alarm system when we bought it- but soon became glad that the previous wonders had installed it! We’ve never been broken into, but neighbors without alarms have. We have very visible alarm signs in the front and back!

Since acquired a dog too, not for security purposes, but it helps.

*owners, not wonders.😂

Our area that we moved from was often the subject of burglaries and aggravated ones. We felt it was a bloody miracle that we never got done over. Last summer a gang of burglars from South America targeted the area while people were abroad during the school holidays. Goods and valuables were photoed in the houses and sold via the internet within minutes. It was a scary time. I don’t miss it. Target houses were cased from the street and often fencing etc was marked as the next one. A common tactic was to Chuck a ball over the fence and leave it there for a while to see if the homeowner had moved it or if they were away.

We just live in a small part mostly for the winter at least- the kitchen and snug as they are joined by the Aga which means it's warm, so it feels cosy and safe enough (for dark nights) despite it being a large house.

Most of the rooms for about half of the year are too cold to be worth venturing into. I feel secure because of the location- very rural, and the kitchen overlooks the main drive (back drive is gated) so you'd know if anybody was coming well in advance. In Summer we use all the rooms and gardens but don't lock the doors- it's just location.

I imagine if you had a large 8 bed manse in zone 2 in London you might not feel secure, but our location means it's probably worth about the same as a parking space there so anybody with that sort of money could afford a very high tech security system

Beagles, lots of beagles.
Good ears and they bark a lot.

I have never wanted to live in a big house. Even if I won the lottery I would not want to.

A bit bigger than I live in now would be great, so a bigger kitchen, a utility room, a separate dining room and possibly a second reception that I could turn into a library. Three bedrooms is more than enough.

I would like a big garden though and my dogs would love it.

I am always slightly surprised that most people when they win the lottery or become famous and rich immediately buy a huge house with something like 10 bedrooms. Why?

Also so much more to keep clean and maintained. I would not want cleaners or other staff

I’m buying a house at the moment and eventually decided on two bedrooms although I could have afforded somewhere bigger, I live on my own and realistically don’t want the hassle and expense of furnishing and maintaining somewhere bigger. I also don’t want to feel I have to walk round checking the security three times a day.

I have been in a house when it was burgled. 10 am ish. I was in bed asleep as worked nights. Creak of the stairs woke me so I had my eyes open when he opened the bedroom door (bedroom was first room at the top of the stairs). He yelped, turned around and hightailed it. I jumped out of bed and ran after him with the duvet wrapped round him, but stopped at the front door as was awake enough at that point to realise that running out into the the street with just a duvet wrapped around me was probably not the done thing (also, he was out of sight by this point, so unlikely to have caught him!).

Couldn’t get back to sleep that day and had to take that night off work, but no lingering side effects after that. Bunglers are not looking for confrontation. There is no point living your life in fear.

Worrying that much can’t be good for you.

That was a small house where you could see into every room but one from the bottom of the stairs.

I later lived in a largish house in London. No swimming pool or cinema, but four stores and five bedrooms. If you were more than one floor away you definitely couldn’t hear normal noise even, sometimes, deliberately loud noise like shouting. We normally kept the ground floor windows closed and latched and the doors locked, though forgot to lock them on occasion. It really didn’t worry me.

I live in a big house and I thought this was going to be how do you relax when there is always something else that needs mending or replacing or cleaning!

The only time in my life I have been burgled was when I was living in an inner city two up two down terrace. The unfortunate truth is people in poorer areas are more likely to be victims of crime than richer, which includes burglary.

like any other house you get used to the size and the depth and can feel where everything else is. Suppose it's like someone with a flat might feel about your house.c

The only scary part of living in a big house for me is wondering what will go wrong next. Will it be plumbing, boiler or the roof.

I know someone with this type of house. They also have the money for 24 hour security, perimeter alarms, monitoring, etc etc. They are probably safer than I am in my little 3 bed semi!

Oh, I love this thread. I love hearing how the other half live.
I live in a one bed flat, on the first floor, with a very secure front door and a camera/voice security entrance downstairs. So someone would have to get in downstairs and break in through the impossible door to get me. And then they'd get nothing for their troubles lol.

I will let you know, when I win the lottery tonight!! 😁

We once had burglars creep in and steal lots of electronics and antiques while we were all snuggled up in the front living room watching TV!

Never heard or saw a peep!!

Never ever want a big house ever again for this very reason (it was only a 4 bed bungalow with 2 reception rooms so not at all huge!)

Well it was huge for me because now I live in a 2 bed

@Smileyelephant

I live in what would be considered a 'huge house'. Someone breaking in hasn't crossed my mind. We don't lock doors during the day (do at night). Haven't been burgled. We have alarms and CCTV on our phone and a camera door bell.

This. I’ve lived in a big, old, fairly rambling house, 4 external doors locked at night but not during the day, out in the countryside- can’t say I spent my time worrying that someone would break in, and no one ever did.