Compromising on rooms or a garden

[cakelover75]

Hello everyone,
Would like some words of advice/experience from you.

We are in a quandry over a house that we have viewed a few times. Inside, thr rooms are a decent size, the cupboards are so great it makes me weep, there are cupboards in the 2 smaller bedrooms so they wouldn't need wardrobes. But, the problem is the garden. The back garden is large and one half is on 3 tiers and the other half is a slope. I have an 18month old and would like to have another baby in the not so distant future....

So, do you think this house should be ruled out by its garden? I have a strong feeling it should be but my OH is dead keen

I don't understand what the problem is with the garden? Do you want a courtyard garden? Or is it vital that the garden is flat and if so why?

I thought the compromise was going to be no garden, large garden sounds fine even if it is tiered.

Sounds fine - what exactly are you worrying about? It is so slopey you can't mow the lawn? Are you concened the children might fall off the terraces? If so, could you put up small but secure fences until they get a little older?

I'm chortling at the thought of cupboards making you weep, although I have seen some that are so horrible they'd make you cry

Anyway... the garden sounds fine for a child. If you're worried about your kids falling off the edge of one of the tiers you could put up some temporary fencing.

Your children won't be tiny for very long. You can always section off the terrace if you are worried.

I think the garden sounds fine and remember they aren't little for that long. Would it be possible to get it landscaped to provide a flat area at all?

Wow, thanks everyone for your responses. I would have to level off a couple of sections of the garden so that we could put a trampoline, slide whatever on. Doesn't that cost a lot of money though? The house inside needs a lot of work doing but we would be getting it for a decent price so the mortgage would always be manageable. Does anyone have a garden similar to what I've described??

And nocake, the cupboards are truly tremendous!

If i had a tiered garden I'd have a slide that went from one tier to another, how awesome would that be

You don't need a slide or a trampoline and tbh if you have an 18 month old and the other one hasn't been conceived, I wouldn't be worrying about a trampoline just yet. You can sink a trampoline into the ground on a slope if that's the only reason you want to level it ...

I have ruled houses out in the past for having sloped, terraced gardens like you describe and for the reasons you give.

A garden your children can play in is a very valuable thing IMO and E. Having littlies is a lot more pleasant when you have usable outdoor space.

That said, for a house I loved, in the right location, I would think about it.

The large garden gives you a lot of scope to change it, so that is good.

I would definitely factor the costs of any necessary landscaping into the price I was willing to pay.

If you are going to landscape it, is it accessible with diggers etc, if you have to remove a lot of topsoil, rocks etc manually using wheelbarrows it is going to put the cost up dramatically. I have to say, having a garden big / flat enough to play football, cricket etc on is a huge bonus as they get older.

We have a two tier garden & a crawling baby. We've a playpen in the garden & a removable fence across the garden to stop her getting down the steps. Am v tempted by the slide suggestion though!

Oooh, good point, WhoKnows, about digger access

I would say that it probably doesn't have digger access because it's on a hill if that makes sense? It has been on the market since Christmas and this also makes me worry about reselling it as other houses in similar condition in the area sell very quickly... Also, the estate agent took the photos of the garden off rightmove.... If I post a link to it, will I be able to remove the link in a couple of hours??

You can't edit a post - you have to report it and wait for someone to remove it but if you put a link on your profile page, you can delete that easily :)

It does depend on how steep the garden is I guess.

Thanks for that Christine, I'll put the link on now

You're welcome - I'm very keen to have a nosy :o

Is this a forever/long term house or a next step incidentally?

It would be a forever house, unless we need to relocate in 3-4 years due to OH's work.

I do think the fact that the garden is sloped/tiered makes a difference.
Our garden is massive.There is a huge patio area perfect for riding bikes and scooters etc. But you have to go up a few steps to the grassy garden,and my kids very rarely go up here unless we take them up there to play cricket or something.
But if we go to my parents or in-laws houses,which are straight out onto big lawns,they are straight out playing. I always put this down to it being in someone else's house,so a novelty factor as such. But my mum said recently that kids like that feeling of just running straight out onto grass. It is inviting.And my mum,as I have learnt over the years-is always right!

Thanks woopsidaisy, I know exactly what you mean. The think is, the tiered parts aren't even level, then are slightly sloped too and not big enough for a wee one to run about on.

Ooh gosh - that's not a slope, that's a hill :o

In my head, the slope was downhill, not uphill and I think there's something a bit intimidating about a really steep hill going up behind a house. If you do get it levelled, you are going to have to put drainage channels in to collect rainwater run off otherwise it's all going to end up on the patio.

I'm agree with you now. And getting cupboards built in is much cheaper than getting a garden that steep levelled.

I think it is a fab house, with massive potential, in what looks to be a nice street. Am I right in thinking there are open fields behind 'your' garden, ie no other houses?
You would be mad not to take the house because of the hill. I lived part of my life in a very hilly part of Germany, tiered gardens are fab. When the dc are little, fence off the small part nearest the house. As they get bigger the garden will become an adventure for them, which each tier offering something different. You can gave great fun with steps, a slide going from one tier to another, a lookout / tree house on the top tier with a view of the whole garden etc etc.
Children are toddlers for such a short amount of time, I would not base my decision on their current age.

I have to say, I know a couple of people who have moved houses when their DCs were young with one of the stated reasons being to get away from small ish ,slopey, terraced type gardens. Ours isn't particularly big, but it is flat and it gets very well used by the DCs, they are 5 and 7 now and ball games are a major part of that play.

On the other hand, my parents garden is the opposite, big and slopey, but not too steep and no terrace bits apart from the patio, it is perfectly possible to play football etc on their grass. I would say if it is either big or flat it would be OK, but if it is neither it could be tricky.

Hmmm, you're right Christine. even if the garden was left as it is it would be difficult to maintain it as it's so big and neither of us are keen gardners, just do what we need to, to keep it tidy.