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.

I think I'd cope

I’m not in the UK so the actual company we used isn’t much use to you.

We had a rep come to the house and we told her exactly what we wanted and they put together the system for us. The fob that locks all of the doors and windows was not part of their standard service but they were happy to do it.

Maybe contact a local security firm and ask about their home security packages.

I’d be paranoid that there’d be a fire or some other reason I needed to get out quickly (gas leak or whatever) and I couldn’t find the fob or the batteries died!

Re living remotely there are surely more downsides than you first realise. What about Amazon and Tesco deliveries? Takeaways? Or don’t people need those when they’re posh? Maybe you have staff to cook for you and go and shop for you?

I really wouldn’t like to be so cut off I don’t think. We once rented a holiday house in Spain which was in an estate up a mountain of second home owners so most were empty. No real phone reception and no landline. DS was very ill suddenly and was literally vomiting every 5 mins through the night one night with a v high temp. I was terrified that we’d need urgent medical help to the house but had no idea how we would summon help. Luckily he got better on his own but ever since I’ve been reluctant to stay at holiday homes which are very rural and don’t have help nearby. If they are very rural I make sure that there’s is a housekeeper or whatever living down the lane who could help in an emergency. Or even better, we stay in a property on the owner’s land with them on hand.

@CurlyhairedAssassin....sorry but you do have some peculiar ideas about how people in big houses live....and living in a big house by the way doesn’t always equal posh! Yes we have smoke alarms like anyone else and have to test them and replace batteries....Downton Abbey probably has sprinklers or something more sophisticated should you be out of range in the west-wing! 😁 and yes we like and eat takeaways via deliveroo! .....why wouldn’t we? 🙄

Our old house had a huge open stairway, with 5 bedrooms & a home cinema and everything was split over 5 split levels. It was only DH and I living there (plus 2 cats) and I hated it when DH was away.

Yes we had electric gates and a fairly decent wall & hedge border but if I was home alone, I never used the cinema room (soundproofed) and more often than not, once it hit evening, I would decamp up to our bedroom, where I felt safest.
If I stayed downstairs, my overactive imagination saw things move in the (massive) garden or heard noises outside.

We never used the alarm or the CCTV that the previous owner had installed - I don't think it would've made me feel any safer.

It was a beautiful house but I was only fully
comfortable in it when DH was home, which I knew meant it wasn't our "forever home"

If anyone thinks they might be identified on the thread it would be best not to set out what your security systems are. Burglars used to buy Hello magazine to see what to steal and how to get in from the profiles and house pictures and I am sure they use the internet - although note to burglars I have nothing to steal unless you want a very large piano. I don't even have a ring!

I do find the issue of fear interesting. For some reason we don't seem to be particularly frightened of things in this family. My mother made sure as children if we saw a spider or heard thunder it was something interesting, not fearful which probably helped and when she told us about male flashers in parks she said run away and if you need to laugh at how small they are so I suppose we were just not imbued with fear.

@CurlyhairedAssassin I'm not in an ancient castle or stately home, I don't think many people here would be in houses that big. Think more Longbourn than Pemberley.

Tesco deliver, amazon obviously as they deliver everywhere in the UK, takeaways too (they just need decent directions) Sometimes delivery drivers are interested in the history of the house and we have a chat about it, or history enthusiasts come up for a look around.

It's just a standard life but with a bit more space. Undoubtedly very lucky but very normal.

@CurlyhairedAssassin I have the fob as the easiest way to get in and out but it’s not the only way. There is a main console that is in the hallway and two others in the house. They are all separate so if one gets knocked out the other two still work. They’re batter backed so cutting the electricity has no impact on the system. The gate has an electric keypad in case I lose the fob for that and the main doors of the house have traditional keys as back up.

We don’t live remotely. We’re in the suburbs.

Yes we know you're perfect Xenia. You say it on every thread 🙄.

The thing about a home with no neighbours no matter the size is that I don't like the fact you're alone. Unless I actually had security people on site I wouldn't relax.
Im in London & like the fact my neighbours can hear me shouting & screaming!

My mother made sure as children if we saw a spider or heard thunder it was something interesting,

My mum loves spiders & I grew up with her drumming it in my head they are nothing to be scared of I can't stand them. I don't kill them but they have to be removed from the house.

I grew up in a biggish house for London (4500sq ft) but always felt very safe as it was quite difficult to get into, was alarmed & my parents used to lock all the downstairs rooms at night. So I was never scared of intruders, just ghosts & monsters! 😆

I think a lot of big houses, well new, footballers type houses with the pool and gym don't have that much to steal.

If you have a cinema room they are not going to be able to steal it, or the pool and things like cookers and microwaves are built in.

There might be some jewellery but a semi occupied by parents and a couple of teenagers will have multiple TVs, games consoles, a couple of lap tops and a couple of tablet computers - all easy to carry and easy to sell.

I grew up in a huge house with no near neighbours. No security system, no dog, back door unlocked in the daytime. None of us worried about intruders although my parents kept a shot gun under their bed.

I worry more now in an urban semi tbh.

@sashh they wouldn't steal the cinema room, but they would steal the tech in it - speakers, projecting equipment, games consoles, etc. You would also find footballers houses full of gadgets and designer stuff. Not everything is built in as quite often their houses are rented because they don't know how long they will be at that team.

I can tell you what people steal from big houses on my road/area as the police send emails every week about what local builders are after.

1. Very expensive cars particularly if they are keyless or home owner helpfully left the keys out on the side near the front door.

2., Catalytic converters from cars - police suggest parking cars tight up against a wall (not really possible for most people) to stop this

1. Gold and jewellery - we have quite a few Indian neighbours with £100k of gold apparently in the house.
2. Statutes - one lady had a nice big statue thing in her porch which was not cemented in.
3. Lots of theft from unlocked garden sheds and from builders' vans left open during the day and their tools in there - never happened to me but is common. I suppose expensive bikes might be a target.
4. Obviously cash and anything in a safe. I don't have a safe.

In our last house - detached but smaller a slightly mad lady broke in when no one was here in the day and taking our wheelbarrow put my computer - in those days worth about £3k in today's money - one of my dresses worth about £50 and a packet from near my bed which only had wax ear plugs in but she must have thought was gold or rings. She was spotted wheeling this stuff away and police found her child home alone too and took it into care. We got that stuff back and yes i did wear the dress again.

slightly mad lady broke in when no one was here in the day and taking our wheelbarrow put my computer - in those days worth about £3k in today's money - one of my dresses worth about £50 and a packet from near my bed which only had wax ear plugs in but she must have thought was gold or rings. She was spotted wheeling this stuff away and police found her child home alone too and took it into care. We got that stuff back and yes i did wear the dress again.

Why would you not wear the dress again, though? Because it might be contaminated with Essence of Burglar from its ride in the wheelbarrow?

The only burglary I've suffered was my underwear ( the good stuff) nicked off my washing line. A few months later I read in the local paper that a man living on my estate had been arrested masturbating in a muck spreader wearing women's lingerie. They found hundreds more items of ladies underwear in his home. True story.

a man living on my estate had been arrested masturbating in a muck spreader wearing women's lingerie

The muck spreader is the bit that gets to me in this tale!

I had a big house and didn’t like being alone in it. I was suffering from anxiety. I was perfectly ok if DD age 3 was there, which makes no sense as I would be more vulnerable with a toddler to protect.

@Bubbletrouble43

The only burglary I've suffered was my underwear ( the good stuff) nicked off my washing line. A few months later I read in the local paper that a man living on my estate had been arrested masturbating in a muck spreader wearing women's lingerie. They found hundreds more items of ladies underwear in his home. True story.

Oh, not the slurry fetish guy in Cornwall? My cousin works for the court service and sat in on two of his trials.

We have relatives whose kitchen/dining area could comfortably accommodate our 3 bed semi - both stories of it.
It’s one of the most relaxed places I’ve been in

@Bubbletrouble43

The only burglary I've suffered was my underwear ( the good stuff) nicked off my washing line. A few months later I read in the local paper that a man living on my estate had been arrested masturbating in a muck spreader wearing women's lingerie. They found hundreds more items of ladies underwear in his home. True story.

@VeryLittleOwl
Yup that slurry guy

I just googled! He was a ‘slurry fetishist’???

Bogglement aside, he sounds very dangerous, with threats, arson etc. And to have been given a very short sentence.

People in the suburbs, side to side have more issues because thieves can just pop over a couple of fences and get lost.

Not true I’m afraid. Large houses out in the sticks get burgled far more as it’s an easy escape in a car and they can go in so many different directions. Also the police are farther away if your house is remote