house next to a canal...good or bad?

[united4ever]

Found a nice house. The bottom of the back garden has a regular fence behind which lies the canal towpath and canal. My 2 concerns are this 1, rats and general vermin, don't they live along canals and may stray into our garden? 2, security, is it not an easy escape for a burglar....although there many other houses like this I could see it looks easier than a house not backing onto a canal.

Canada geese are very very very noisy, especially early on summer mornings. That's worth considering.

DP is a water controller on a canal. I've just asked him, he says:

• Canals are highly unlikely to flood (it's his job to make sure the one in our town doesn't! There is someone on call 24/7 to make sure water is let in and out to stop flooding) - as an example about 10 years ago our county famously came to a complete standstill due to immense flooding - the canal never flooded even then!
• there are certainly rats around the canal, but as pp have said, so long as you don't have food out in your garden, (including bird feeders) you should be ok - getting a cat would help too!
• in terms of burglars, unless they have a boat (which most don't) the get away with any loot would end up being a long escape down a canal towpath - so certainly not more likely to get burgled than anywhere else.
• midges could be an issue, but they could out in the countryside too, you can get candles to burn in the garden etc to deter them.
• smell shouldn't be an issue

So long as that section of the canal doesn't have any river through it you should be okay in terms of flooding. I'd love that house but I lived on a narrowboat for a while so I think I'm biased. Is it a popular boating/mooring spot? If yes, you may have "neighbours" in the form of boats now and then. Shouldn't be a problem unless they are antisocial littering/late running of engines types.

Thanks all positive

Yep I have a dog she will love it! There's a footpath a few yards from house that leads directly on the footpath by canal, plus bottom of the garden has a high wall and you can see people walking by on the canal path.

I lived in a house backing on to the canal for about 6 year and loved it.
I have fond memories of lying in bed with the balcony doors open, and the barges sailing up and down.

I don't remember any rat or midge problems. Lovely too for walks down the towpath to the pub.