Well knock me down with a feather

[Rhubarbgarden]

Mr Rhubarb liked the house we viewed today. Very much so, in fact. He liked the high ceilings and the light-filled rooms, and the presence of all the original fireplaces and some nice floorboards and parquet got him all enthusiastic. Who would have thought it? For the first time, he didn't come home saying 'nah, our house is better'.

It was all a bit chaotic because baby Rhubarb was crying the whole time and small Rhubarb was running around and making escape bids, and being all shouty and high maintenance, so we are going to go back for a second viewing on Wednesday when small Rhubarb will be farmed out.

That is all. Sorry very self indulgent thread but I am so at this turn of events I needed to share!

Can you link us in to some details? [hoists herself up in preparation for a lovely bit of Rightmove]

It's the one I was wittering about the other day; big project as currently set out as bedsits. Daunting but exciting!
money pit

Yaaaaaaaay . Is this the one that was flats?

So what was it like? Are there loads of hidden gems waiting to shine?

Is it a massive project?

Ooh excited for you!

OOOOH! Buy it! Enjoy it! Wow!

WOW! That is amazing, especially with the original features. Very Dooooo it

fucking hell.
That is all.

Best of British!

I'm completely new to the DIY/property threads but just read this and had to do a huge to rhubarb - that is an amazingly expensive stunning house there

It looks gorgeous but can I just offer one word of caution.

When we moved to our current house another contender was similar to the one we bought but one room larger on the ground floor and,due to attic rooms, had 3 extra bedrooms (so 7 in total). Fast forward 12 years and both DCs are away at uni so just DH and I at home yet they feel that if we downsized they would be "rootless". That is fine by us with this house but might not be in a 7 bed one.

If you are looking for a "forever" house might it be too big?

Having said that it does look absolutely lovely.

Just looked at the floor plan, do the bedrooms have kitchen facilities or is that one tiny kitchen servicing 9 bedsits?

Did they have the original house plans on show? If not there should be a record of them somewhere you can source so you can see the original quirks like servants stairs etc.

I would love to get my hands on a house like this! Any idea how popular it is? Did the agent give any clues?

It is too big, admittedly, but that seems to be the only negative, so it's one I'm prepared to live with. And we'd knock out some walls to make fewer, bigger rooms and proper bathrooms etc, so it would be more liveable and less of a rabbit warren. The garden is not vast but it's adequate - the house is close to the high street (which is something I wanted, with two small children) so it's hard to find larger ones without going more rural. I don't know about original plans, the kids were going nuts so it wasn't exactly a leisurely viewing; we should be able to ask more questions on Wednesday. The agents are full of the usual bluster - 'ooh there's loads of interest we are expecting it to go for a lot higher than asking price it would be worth £2m done up' etc etc (we won't be offering more than asking price and no it wouldn't be worth £2'm )

Am cautiously excited...

An absolutely stunning house from the outside. As a 'furriner' it looks quintessentially British, gorgeous fireplaces and features. What is the road outside like, is it a small street or a busier thoroughfare?

Best of luck, should make a fantastic family home.

Ah its a great oppourtunity though. And a minor miracle that DH is excited too! Is there room to squeeze in a little lake? .

Keep us posted when you go again!

Oh GOD, that is gorgeous . And I do love a bit of Godalming...

If dh kicks up, I'll come and live there with you

What a fucking beautiful house. I doubt we could afford one of the bedsits.

Flatbread it's a quiet, leafy residential road - perfect.

Oreo I am sad about the lack of lake potential, but can't have everything, hey? Maybe a pond...

Devora it's a deal - and we'll have a big MN housewarming party!

I like the walled garden, perfect to landscape without the headache of taking care of tracts of land. A lovely place for family and friends to enjoy a summer barbecue. Is it west or south facing? I love east-west houses, they get great light throughout the day.

Great that it is on a quiet street. And since it is in your chosen location, it seems perfect, really.
Don't get the fascination with lakes...stagnant water makes me think of midges and musk rats. Having the sea on one's doorstep would be a different matter

When we were house hunting years back, we saw one property advertised as having a heart shaped lake. Yeah right, looked like an irregular shaped swamp to me. If the house had been as nice as it looked in the pictures, and we had bought it, we would have filled in the damn thing.

I used to live near Godalming and it is somewhere I would be very happy to live in. Stunning house and lots of potential. How exciting.

Congratulations on baby rhubarb's arrival too.

We got copies of the original plans for our turn of the century (approx 1904) house from the council archives. Helped us to know where the original drains ran underground for when the major building work excavations started.

sorry but I think we'v gazumped you rhubarb not! lol!
we love property porn but live in a 3 bed in WGC worth aprox £225,000 so we'r a bit behind you! good luck tho and enjoy it x

Ooh hello! I live in Godalming. I want it! If When I win the lottery this weekend you'll be in a bidding war against me!

Garden size is standard for round here, even for a house of that size. It's prime commuter territory. And garden faces south which is perfect.

I can already see which walls I would knock down/how I'd rearrange the house and I haven't even been there.

I assume you have a spare few £100,000s for the work that's going to need to be done which is brilliant as there is plenty of space for more bathrooms, a huge family kitchen, a lovely landscaped garden etc

Only minor drawback to me is it is near the high street but Holloway Hill is very very steep as is the footpath that runs down to Croft Road, not something I'd relish with a double buggy or a whiny toddler. But on the other hand very good for your legs and bum and parking in Godalming isn't too bad.

but it's not Georgian!!! >

Looks fabulous. Lots of luck x

at Flatbread's distaste for lakes and muskrats!

Monster don't speak too soon, the bugger found a Georgian beauty on Rightmove last night, and this morning was consequently a bit lukewarm about the Godalming house ... but the Georgian one is a) in the middle nowhere, not walkable even to a hamlet; b) the nearest town is Woking (sorry to anyone who lives in Woking, it just wouldn't be my choice) and c) has a septic tank. All of these things are dealbreakers AND are what pushes it into our price bracket - if it was in Godalming or Lewes or somewhere like that we wouldn't be able to afford it. Gah... Here we go again...

Hopefully seeing it again on Wednesday will get him keen again.

Purple we walked up that hill and I did think , but like you say, good for the thighs - I do need to lose a bit of baby chub. Do you like living in Godalming? I may well be coming back to you for local info and recommendations for builders etc!

Just for comparison not as nice a location, smaller and £1.65 million

I think Godalming is absolutely lovely to live in. Fingers crossed for you.

Also, um, I haven't followed your previous thread but if you do get the £1m house have you any experience of the combination of massive rebuild and toddlers, or are you able to rent somewhere or something?

Hah no we did do renovate this place though, pre-children, and it was in roughly the same state (but not so huge) though we did more major structural work. So we know from that traumatic experience that renting would be essential. There's no way I'd embark on a project like that and try and live in it at the same time.

That other house is an interesting comparison, thanks. It does demonstrate quite how expensive Godalming is.