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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want a house with walks 'from the door'?

220 replies

VanityWitch · 07/12/2020 18:59

Not through busy roads?

DH thinks this is a wild expectation. I think it's common in lots of areas.

We are considering moving further out from London. We are in the Home Counties having moved out once already. I want proper countryside. He thinks this is some crazy and impossible dream Xmas Hmm, city boy Xmas Grin!

Budget is £400k-ish to be comfortable. Up to £500k if we were feeling a bit more daring. Anywhere in the south half of England really.

AIBU?

OP posts:
ekidmxcl · 07/12/2020 19:55

Easily achievable. He’s being very silly.

EndoplasmicReticulum · 07/12/2020 19:55

Yes we have it. Better here (small town) than in last house, even though that was in a village. Trouble with the village was to get to footpaths you had to walk along country roads with no pavements.

Mooballs · 07/12/2020 19:56

We can get to theThames path in 2 minutes with lots of walk options beyond. Yes your budget is reasonable. Plus we are within walking distance of a station with direct services to london.

MikeUniformMike · 07/12/2020 19:56

It's not unrealistic, given that the mid point of England is Coventry or Leicestershire.

MaverickDanger · 07/12/2020 19:57

@wheretogothisyear Taunton.

Bonus of good schools, close to M5 & easy access to the coast & more rural areas. We’re really happy here.

UndertheCedartree · 07/12/2020 19:58

It does sound nice. We have to walk for half an hour to get somewhere nice to walk (and I mean a park or the seafront - not country) - it does make me feel like I can't be bothered sometimes! I have some mobility problems and also Long covid so it's like I get to somewhere nice but I need to turn around and walk home!!

Nannewnannew · 07/12/2020 19:59

I live in a semi rural area which does has its benefits, but, the biggest drawback when trying to walk from home is that there are no pavements, hence I take my life in my hands when trying to walk, as many cars speed past despite the 30 mph limit.

Notthe9oclocknewsathon · 07/12/2020 19:59

Lots of places in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire for example.

Mixingitall · 07/12/2020 19:59

How about this one:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86691583#/

SantaMonicaPier · 07/12/2020 19:59

We have this. Not in London but one of the largest cities in the UK. We chose a house a few miles from the centre, and our road opens out to miles of countryside. With your budget you should have choice e.g Suffolk.

opinionatedfreak · 07/12/2020 20:00

Just sold a house on the edge of a major Scottish city with fabulous walks from the door. Most of which were on public footpaths/ cycleways.

It was a major selling point and we put a couple of photos taken from the walks in our internet listing.

Location wise though this isn't going to work for you!

AlwaysLatte · 07/12/2020 20:01

I absolutely love the fact that we can walk out of our front door into fields, especially during the lockdowns. We were going to move a couple of years ago for more space but the houses we liked all had roads before you got to the fields and we stayed put. I grew up in quiet road that led onto open fields and it's so lovely. The only thing though is that lots of development is happening at the moment so buying your dream house with a view can come with risks :-(

Blondiney · 07/12/2020 20:01

@ivykaty44

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/82972711#/

30 minutes drive to rugby station and 1 hour trains to London

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/100449212#/
pretty village with many lovely walks from the doorstep, 5 minutes drive from pretty rural town

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/98653415#/ lovely rural village with many many walks and rides

or

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/74919657#/ town house with many walks, castle and easy walk to town and train station. great road links and great schools

OMG they're really lovely and they cost similar to my shabby old two bed terrace. I'm definitely selling up!
Twigaletta · 07/12/2020 20:02

We made the most of being in this position during lockdown and did loads of walks from the door. In a field within 2 minutes of my front door and 1 mile from the start of our town.

bingoitsadingo · 07/12/2020 20:02

It's not that hard to find and you don't really need to be rural either if you don't want to be. You just need to live on the edge of a town.

Juststopit · 07/12/2020 20:02

I’m in a lovely village in Bedfordshire and can walk for miles from my front door. Love it.

roarfeckingroarr · 07/12/2020 20:03

We have this in London - Wandsworth Town

GreenShadow · 07/12/2020 20:05

Gloucestershire. Just try and avoid the popular Cotswold-y type villages.
There are plenty of places which don't attract the tourists but are still lovely places to live. Reasonable trains back to London.

We can step out of our back gate and walk for miles cross country yet are only 2 miles from the town centre and station.

Panicmode1 · 07/12/2020 20:05

We live in a town in the SE, but 10 mins from woods and fields. It's perfect (for now) because the teens are in town for meeting up with friends/school etc but we have green space on the doorstep. Once they finish secondary school I am moving to the middle of nowhere though 🤣

wheretogothisyear · 07/12/2020 20:06

@MaverickDanger oh wow sounds like a perfect place

DonttouchthatLarry · 07/12/2020 20:07

We moved for that reason 10 years ago and it seriously changed our lives. We lived in the suburbs of a midlands city and had to drive the dogs to places we could let them off lead - walking from home involved traffic, broken glass, litter etc.

Now we live in a small village 15 mins from nearest small town, in a dead end lane that open onto footpaths and bridleways - a canal also runs through the village so can walk for miles along it.

Being able to get out through the fields and woods during the first lockdown for daily walks was a sanity saver - was so glad we weren't still in our old house.

Shedbuilder · 07/12/2020 20:07

When I lived in Wales in the noughties it was in a house where you could go out of the garden gate and onto wild National Trust land without having to cross a road. Ten minutes walk and you were on the cliffs with access to wild beaches and the coastal path or woodland or river valley. Really, really missed it during lockdown and over the summer. It's not the same when you have to get in the car and then find somewhere to park, only to find the rest of the world has had the same idea. It's particularly wonderful in the winter, when you can walk to places no one else can easily get to from car parks. There were about 20 different walks we could do from that house. Sadly we had to move away for work.

Standrewsschool · 07/12/2020 20:08

I’m in Kent. The countryside is on my doorstep, but I’m near to railway stations also. Less than one hour to get to the beach.

Dinosaur765876 · 07/12/2020 20:08

We moved to our current house in zone 5 London for this. Five minute walk in any direction and you're in either a park, farmland or woods. And from there you can walk for hours in almost almost completely uninterrupted countryside.

Tomorrowistomorrow · 07/12/2020 20:08

I live in the middle of nowhere and have fields out my front door to walk my dogs in. We get snowed in and icy weather is shit.

The DC can't even walk to the nearest town -it would take them 1 and half hours to walk one way to the nearest town where there is sod all except buses every hour to the next town that has a cinema.

In 2 weeks we move to my home city -where buses go every 5 minutes and they are 20 minutes away from centre of the huge city (Exeter). Can't bloody wait and neither can they.

If my car doesn't start -I'm screwed my nearest neighbours are a good 20 min walk away.

Be careful what you wish for.