Which house would you choose?

[NicolaSeven]

Hypothetically speaking.

The house we are renting, 3 beds, beautiful, atmospheric rural location. We love the house and we think the landlord would sell. On the downside, we have to drive to DC's school and there are no walkable amenities. I miss walking to things. And we would probably have to spend a bit of money to get it the way we want it. No chance of extension etc.

House in the same village that DC's school is in. FIVE beds and all the space we'd ever want. More expensive, but still within our range. Gorgeous open spaces at the back and park seconds from the house. Not much character, but the kind of house you could put your stamp on. The street feels quite suburban, which wasn't quite the rural dream that convinced me to move from a big city.

WWYD?

House 2 probably! When you say it's in a village, do you mean a small village - or a village big enough to have it's own McDonalds?

If it's a small village then definitely house 2.

House 2.

A dream house is ok if the neighbourhood has the convenience and the facilities you need to go with it, but could turn into a nightmare of feeling isolated/totally relying on a car if not.

You sound more convinced by house 2!

I would stay where I was until a more perfect house came on to the market.

Hm. Reasonably big, no McD's but enough to keep me busy.

I must admit, seeing it written down, it does look like a no brainer. I suppose it's esoteric things. When am driving down the lane to the rented house, it feels a bit secret garden-ish. There are deer and rabbits in the garden.

Still, not much added to quality of life by deer and bunnies though. Unless I get bored of driving to the shops and decide to eat them

I second the poster who said wait for a better house...unless you want to post a link to the 5-bed? [hopeful] [nosey]

House 2, but then I have a 10 minute walk to a pint of milk rule that I apply to house hunting.

House 1 for me.

House one for me but only because we are renting in a rural location too. I don't need to run children around anymore though and that would a consideration. Are your children a long way off from being able to cycle themselves,etc?

Yes, a very long way off from that - I have years of ferrying left. There is a bus, though at the moment they are still too young for that.

My problem is that I tend to get excited about whatever's in front of me, without applying my critical faculties. And there is bugger all else available locally. House 2 is exciting as I can see what I can do to it, although the street really is a bit naff and it's as far as it's possible to be from the school and still be in the village, so still a long walk.

I think I need to time the walk and apply msmoss's rule.

House 2 - I couldn't bear to live somewhere that meant driving to everything.

If I had deer and rabbits in the garden (again) I'd move to somewhere I didn't!

Also, I have a 10 min walk to a pint of beer rule.

House one sounds lovely.

House two more practical.

I would worry about how things would work with older children in house one, you may well be a taxi service for teens in the long run!

Well, there's a pub 5 minutes down the road, but it takes 29 minutes precisely to walk to the school. So there and back, twice in a day...that's 2 hours of walking a day.

Arse. I really wanted to like this house.

House 2.

You and your DC can cyle to the school through the village, so a 25 min walk becomes a 10 minute cycle.

House 1 will be awful when your DC are over the ageof12 and want to meetup with their friends. You will have to drive them everywhere. What a nightmare.

Probably house 2. You seem a bit confused, tbh, mourning the loss of the rural dream, yet being put off the more rural one by it not being within walking distance of everything you need.
Goes with the territory, I'd have thought?

I'd go with house 1 but then I've lived rurally all my life and have never lived walking distance from anything.

2

We live in a village where we've to drive for anything more ambitious than a pint of milk or a pint of beer and while I always thought rural seclusion was my thing, I'm beginning to realise that it's not.

House 2 for me!

We are considering moving from the rural dream to a small market town precisely because now ds is older (11) he is very isolated here and can't just go and call for friends.

When he's bogged off to uni (or wherever) we shall move back to the back of beyond.

That's the plan anyway.

Driving more than 1/2 hr for kids' activities e.g swimming, cubs, etc will be a PITA for years. Walking just over a mile is fine - I did this 4 x a day when I had DC at nursery and infants in all weathers. The distance meant that there wasn't much time difference between driving and walking once you take all the faffing about getting the kids into the car and then finding a car parking space near the school. DC1 used a microscooter whilst DC2 was in a buggy. Let's just say that I didn't feel the need to go to the gym.

House 2!

House 1.

How far is the drive to school from house 1?

The drive takes about 10 minutes. But I miss using my legs and I hate the parking nightmare every morning.

Perhaps I am being a wuss about the 29 minute walk.

Actually 'market town' is a better description than village. Large village/small town. I had to pop into it today and realised how much I like pottering around there.

If not house 2, then I will have to wait until something else comes up there.

House 2