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Original poster

English houses

79 replies

comfortandjoy · 16/05/2018 22:42

I’m hoping to persuade DP to consider moving back to England ( where I’m from) but know houses are going to be a problem.
Where we live now, in NZ, a basic home is a 3 bed single story home in the middle of a plot of land. They’re not usually full of luxury but are usually open plan living with good indoor, outdoor flow onto a decking area. You don’t really see joined up houses. Where we live now we get on with our neighbours and have occasional chats but can’t see or hear them when we’re sitting on our decks.

So, looking on rightmove at in our price range detached houses are very different to here. They all seem to be so close to the next door houses , I think you might as well be joined together as that tiny gap isn’t going to give much further privacy.
I remember living in a big old terrace as a student and never hearing my neighbours.
I like the idea of a terrace but looking through the eyes of DP I know he’d not like the idea of having ‘ land ‘ and not being able to walk around your house.

Have you gone from detached to joined up house ? How was it? Did you feel more conscious of neighbours living in such close proximity?

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Original poster
comfortandjoy · 17/05/2018 09:19

@LillianGish yes it would be weird to hear all those sounds and it could be annoying.And we are quite noisy sometimes - music, instruments, running around so would not be good to have sensitive neighbours either.

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caperberries · 17/05/2018 09:19

What about this in Market Harborough?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71638973.html

Battleax · 17/05/2018 09:21

It’s sold caper.

caperberries · 17/05/2018 09:23

Yes, it's just an example of the sort of NZ-style property available for her budget. Market Harborough is a very nice town with good links to other parts of the UK

OP hasn't even decided whether to move yet, so presumably most of these places would be sold before then anyway!

Original poster
comfortandjoy · 17/05/2018 09:23

@battleax
Thank you for all the links. I realise I should have been more specific . My parents always told us we lived in the dead centre of England- I thought it was well known. More Leics, Notts , Derby border.

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specialsubject · 17/05/2018 09:31

the quarter acre section is not standard in the uk -70 million of us in the same space as 5 million kiwis - but space can be found depending on location and budget. i am in one such but i dont have to go to a city.

btw forget decking, stupid in the uk climate, in fact stupid anywhere that isnt year round hot and dry.

ISeeTheLight · 17/05/2018 09:37

This place seems pretty detached. Nice views too.

Or this if you want the real English feel

And this has IMO a very Australian/NZ feel to it - very open plan, huge plot.

There are lots of houses in your budget in that area for sale, I'm sure you can find something that suits you.

Original poster
comfortandjoy · 17/05/2018 09:49

Yes Caper is right, this is just my my plan at the moment so not at the stage of seriously buying houses. I will show DP photos of what’s possible to give him an idea .
We don’t have a love of one storey houses, but do like open plan kitchen dining. I think that I’m drawn to those terraces that are extended and all open plan at the back. I am just think that when I say terrace he’ll imagine a kind of coronation street lifestyle.

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JassyRadlett · 17/05/2018 10:00

Obviously 65 million people aren’t going to build their own spacious homes! Whether we like it or not, housing developers build houses to a price. If you want bespoke detached with land, dig deep into your pockets. Most people just cannot afford that. Most people cannot build their own homes either. Developers build what people want or they wouldn’t sell them. It would be a useless business model.

It’s a really interesting feature of the British market and approach that this model is seen as inevitable/others as being useless when it’s actually quite an unusual approach in very many countries (including places with similar housing pressures). It’s always struck me as really strange that self-build here is seen as the preserve of the rich.

Original poster
comfortandjoy · 17/05/2018 10:08

Thanks for the links @iseethelight

The first one would be too rural for me but I like the second one. I suppose it would depend on the area.
I agree the 3rd one is a bit like some Nz/AU houses. It’s quite boxy and characterless though . Oh god maybe I’m the picky one.

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Original poster
comfortandjoy · 17/05/2018 10:17

@specialsubject
We aren’t after a quarter acre section. I was just was surprised at how close together some of the detached houses are.
I also want to hear how people found it going from a detached to a joined up house.
Ps. I don’t care if a house has decking I was trying to describe a typical house here. I know how slippery ours gets in winter -have fell a couple of times.

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Kismett · 17/05/2018 10:27

I grew up in a detached house on three acres of land, have lived in an apartment in a large city, now living in a semi, and quite a few places in between. I think for me it's always been about the overall experience rather than the specific housing. But I'm more easygoing about this sort of thing which is probably the reason I ended up moving countries!

Original poster
comfortandjoy · 17/05/2018 10:38

Yes it shouldn’t be about the house really but I am going to have to sell this move to DP by showing ideas of how it could be.

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MrsFezziwig · 17/05/2018 17:19

As Battleax has shown, you could definitely get what you want if you looked for example in the “north” East Midlands. South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire can be relatively good value as well.

With regard to your elderly relatives, the scenario is likely to be that when they start getting ill you might need to be on hand at a moment’s notice and that would definitely cost you to start flying over. If you stay in NZ, realistically you can’t be involved in any meaningful way. The one thing that I am thankful about is that my parents are local to me, because sorting them out is hard enough without having distance as a factor as well. Do you currently have siblings in the UK who would take this on?

minipie · 17/05/2018 17:28

TBH it sounds like even in NZ you would have a bit a conflict with DH because he likes rural and quiet and you like a community feel. In other words it's not really about which country it's more about who's going to compromise on their ideal lifestyle. I think it might be worth bottoming that out first. If he persuades you round to rural living then you should be able to get something peaceful in the UK (depending on where you need to be for work, commute, schools etc of course). If you persuade him to more urban living then he's going to have to accept some noise whichever country you live in. Of course the middle ground is leafy suburbs, plenty of those in the UK...

Hoppinggreen · 17/05/2018 17:32

I’m in West Yorkshire and have a detached house with a decent garden and large driveway, it’s about 16 years old.
We looked at an awful lot of new builds before we found one that wasn’t too close to neighbours with plenty of parking but found one eventually- it would be above your budget now unfortunately but they do exist, just take some finding

user546425732 · 17/05/2018 17:32

We have a 1930s house, the garden is surrounded by trees and we can't see any of our neighbours at all. I'm sitting opposite the garden now and all I can see are the flowers, trees and the dog.

athingthateveryoneneeds · 17/05/2018 17:35

Depends on the size and age of the terrace. I've lived in a mid terrace built in the 80s(?) and could hear next door plug.thwir appliances in. I currently live in a 3 story Victorian end terrace with a basement and we barely hear next door. The neighbours swear blind they can't hear us, either, but I'm not sure.if I believe them - we have young DC and they don't.

The interesting thing about Victorian terraces is that builders usually only had funds to build a row of houses at a time, so places like where we live may all be terraced houses but they remain unique (but probably not as wildly different as you've described in NZ). Some terraced homes have 100 ft long gardens which isn't bad going compared to our postage stamp (but I'm not green thumbed so I don't mind).

Battleax · 17/05/2018 17:38

The thing is if you’re buying for cash, you could buy something that’s most of what you need with potential, and qualify for a small mortgage for improvements or an extension after two or three years here.

Racecardriver · 17/05/2018 17:53

You really should move to a village. Houses are nicer, more options for properly detached houses, and you get more for your money. You also get more of a sense of community than you typically do living in a town. I am Australian loving in Britain and the only place I would willingly move to after living city, town and, village would be a village location.

Racecardriver · 17/05/2018 17:53

Don't forget that you always have the option of buying a small house and extending.

Troels · 17/05/2018 18:04

We moved from rural California on acerage to Wales after 20 something years of space and sunshine. There was some reverse culture shock for all of us. Dh couldn't get over all the doors in the house and has slowly opened up our house, leaving a door to the hallway and one to a cosy snug. I feel stairs are overrated and so we are looking at moving to a bungalow, and making that as open plan as we can.
We are looking for a three bed bungalow and I can't wait. Still don't like that I can see onto other peoples windows when we look out of our bedroom, so I try not to look even though we have spectaular mountain views barr the neighbours conservatory

LillianGish · 17/05/2018 21:32

I also want to hear how people found it going from a detached to a joined up house. We moved from a large detached house in Germany to a terrace in London. It was quite a difference - you can hear your neighbours and so it follows that they can hear you. It bothered my DH more than it bothered me, but then he is more inclined to focus on noises that aren't being made by him. I loved where we lived in London and that's what the housing stock is like in London so I didn't find it a difficult adjustment to make. You are far more aware of your neighbours in a joined up house so it is important that you get along - far more so than in a detached. I now live in an apartment (in central Paris so that is how most people live) so we are now surrounded by neighbours (above and below as well as on all sides). Again, I love living here so it's something I'm able to adjust to, embrace and even enjoy. It's not like living in a detached house, but it has other compensations.

Original poster
comfortandjoy · 17/05/2018 21:45

@MrsFezziwig
Yes it would be so hard to be so far away as parents get older . I do have siblings who are local but to be at least driving distance would make things easier . I would like to spend some time with them before they get ill. We’ve been here with the in laws as they got weaker and died so I have a better understanding of what might be involved.

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