To think this house is too remote to be feasible

[HungryHouseHunter]

Name change. Posting in AIBU for traffic. We are considering putting an offer on this house. It's exactly the style we want with more land than we wanted but I'm worried it's too far from Winchester where we started looking. To get the train station I'll need to drive, to get to the shops I'll need to drive! Does anyone do this ? Do you end up resenting the inconvenience? For example I couldn't just pop out for a big shop, I think I would need to drive to Winchester and pay for parking etc. Would need to pay for parking at train station when using it (at least twice a week). Do these things just get more and more annoying. Currently live somewhere where car isn't even really needed.

Also value for money?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145236887

I'm sure I've seen it posted on here before, the pictures look very familiar.

This is really helpful and we will need to look into this.

We will absolutely need to get a good report for it with that concern agreed.

So, I live 9 miles from the nearest town with small shops, Co-op etc, and 12 miles from a decent supermarket. It’s definitely do-able, you just need to be organised. It’s far more cost efficient to get a supermarket delivery, for example, and then pick up any extras in village shops/farm shops en route, you just build this into any journey you’re already doing.
Also, if you’re using rural roads, you shouldn’t be stuck in too much traffic - my 9 mile school run is actually only 15 minutes.
Make sure you have a drive around the surrounding villages - there’s probably more nearby than you realise.

This is Like a dream home for me, I would live there with a several dogs, cats and horses
Go for it op it's beautiful

If I was spending that much I wouldn’t want to compromise on things that matter to me. And it sounds like a Tesco and train station within walking distance are important to you so perhaps look in the local towns?

Could one of the servants get the shopping for you?

We live on the edge of a town (which is where that seems to be situated) and I like it. It feels more remote than it is.

We went from a small London house though to something with a lot of land and a big step up in terms of size and (a) it's hard to heat and (b) don't underestimate the amount of time that garden and outside space will take

I know what it means. It’s what we do. It’s not unsightly and I have a dog and two outdoor cats and no grass indoors. But hey, maybe I’m wrong

I'd prefer to be in Winchester. This isn't remote though. Where are you moving from?

Never mind the location, the property is hideous. There must be something nicer for £2.5 million.

That is lovely

Dream Houses to Me

Can I just ask, nicely, what jobs they have as I have always wondered who lives in such nice places .
The closest, pricewise, that somebody I know lives in is a converted barn (oddly enough) it cost them around £770K but Years ago.
She worked in advertising and He was an antique dealer.
I live not far from Blackheath and love the huge houses in Blackheath Park and the roads they are on .. I assume they are accountants or Doctors or Surgeons etc.

This isn't a style of house that attracts me with the huge hall , difficulty keeping it warm etc.
DH would veto if there was traffic noise.
If I was interested I would investigate solar heating with those big runs of roof and, indeed, you have capacity for ground source with the land.
It isn't remote but you will be tied to your car . We lived in a semi rural situation with limited public transport when I had a tiny child and I could see 17 + years ahead of compromise as far as their freedom , school and social life and my work life were concerned.

I think if you have reservations about driving etc it’s not for you- you’d be saying‘it’s not too bad, it’s only 40 mins to x’ etc etc. we’re rural, I’m in the car a lotttttt (2 different schools and train station), but I love listening to the radio and the scenery is stunning!

It’s got a bonkers layout. Two bedrooms with the only accessible bathroom up a flight of stairs. Somebody really didn’t think about that at all.

You'll.spend your life in your car. We live in a village. Everything practical ( food, doctors,posting a letter, school,) involve a car. Everything fun involves a car for you going somewhere or people coming to you.
We have oil. You have to pay upfront. If you balls it up and run out you will be absolutely freezing in that house. If you run out the system will carry on sucking until the boiler locks out. Your pipes will end up full of sediment and need cleaning out. We used 3 months worth of oil in 6 weeks one snowy winter. Its not like mains gas. Its in a tank. Once it's used up that's it, no heating no hot water. Went down to minus 7° in the kitchen. Everyone wanted oil so it took weeks to get any as the snow kept cutting us off.
Can you get takeaways. No one will deliver to us so they are an absolute treat if we go to other people or go on holiday somewhere more urban
Do you mind spiders. Those roof areas will be absolutely full of them and they will be HUGE.

Shawford has a train station, that's walkable. And it's 5 mins to the Sainsbury's supermarket which is a decent size. There is a lovely pub / restaurant in Shawford and it's right on the itchen trail which is a lovely walk into Winchester. I live in this area outside Winchester and really like it. Easy into the city, m3 is handy, some public transport, nice pubs and cafes and nothing is more than a 15min drive.

It's a lifestyle change by the sounds of it and that can be difficult to get used to. When we moved we came down from SW London so it was such a shock but we have gotten used to it really quickly.

Though with that budget I would look for something smaller but in Winchester itself. You won't get as much house and land but you would get something lovely on a really nice part of town

That would be a hard no from me. The house has relatively little objectively going for it- lots of space but not enough room where it matters. It's a triumph of style over substance, because it's not designed to be liveable, but to impress. It's VERY close to the M3 and stuck between Winchester and Chandlers Ford, so I would think both noisy and liable to be built around in the next few years, at the rate of current expansion. Check whether the surrounding farmland is owned by Winchester College, if so they would be quite likely to sell for house building.
It's not at all remote but you might find it inconvenient- to me, it's suburban, but then I love a dark sky and the sounds of owls and sheep not motorway traffic.

Compton is not remote 🤣 Sainsbury’s at Badger Farm is a short drive as is Waitrose in Chandlers Ford. I’d be more concerned about the motorway noise, not sure I’d spend that much to live next to the M3.

Yes I have to drive for everything but only 5 minutes to a village that has a shop, pub etc. It took a bit of getting used to. I would say it depends on your life stage. If you have young children it’s fine. Teens a bit trickier. I love how peaceful it is compared to living in town. I do have other houses nearby though.

Remote?! That’s barely rural. Fuck me.

We drive 8.5 miles each way to a tiny rural supermarket and we’re only “rural”, nowhere near remote.

But no, don’t buy that. You are definitely the sort that will piss off the locals. Stay put.

Think it’s lovely house but my idea of hell to live that rurally, only you can know. I love walking down high street & seeing 2/3 people I know, being able to walk to supermarket & not driving for over 15 years.

Sorry but for £2.45M it’s ugly as fuck. Looks very 2007. Just absolutely no.

For a house with 3acres in a rural location it’s not that remote - the village/shawford is a few mins in the car, as is the train station. Ocado etc deliver (so does Amazon Prime, same day) so not an issue there.

The issue really is do you want a 3 acres (it takes a lot of maintenance or money if you get someone to do it for you) and to have to drive everywhere. DH and I nearly bought something like this then realised that in 20 years time we’d be completely isolated. Atm we are within walking distance of a train station - direct trains to London and to a nearby market town. GPS/supermarket are in walking distance if we ever cannot drive; hospital 15mins/ambulance within 5mins.

Actually it was reading a thread on here that made us rethink - about someone with parents who’d moved to rural Devon, been unavailable to help with grandchildren and gone of on cruises etc, who were now frail/elderly and complaining they have noone nearby to help get them to hospital appointments which were an hour away.

The house is lovely, and the cinema rooms etc are a bonus, but many people I know who’ve bought into that dream have been a bit disillusioned and isolated after a while, as they have to drive to see friends (can’t drink) or friends have to come and stay (and are generally too busy), kids can’t be independent etc.