Road noise- rural home

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If you were looking to buy a gorgeous rural cottage with amazing views of nothing but fields , a large landscapes garden, situated on a quiet country lane BUT within earshot of a fairly busy A road (but you can't see it).

Would it put you off?

Looking at buying a place but DH thinks it will put people off when we come to sell in 10 years time.

Yes, it would me. But I'm sure plenty of people would put up with it in return for the views and large garden. I'd be more worried about the fields being sold and built on!

Yes. How loud is the traffic? If very loud I wouldn’t even consider. If faint but constant I would consider if price reflected this.

How long has it been on the market? That may tell you how difficult or not it will be to sell next time.

Imo if you plan on living there for 10 years you should buy it if it’s right for you though (we’ve recently bought a house that was difficult to sell and took over a year)

if it isn't putting you off, then there could reasonably be a buyer in 10 years time. Do remember that traffic only gets worse.

also how protected are those fields? Are you going to be in the middle of a massive housing estate?

If it's loud enough to disrupt a conversation in the garden, no. If it's just a background rumble then yes, you'd be surprised how quickly you learn to just blank it out.

No if it's just a background rumble. I live in a quiet little village but not far from a busy A road dual carriageway. It has NEVER bothered me. Even with all the windows open at night I would have to consciously "listen" to notice it.

I tuned it out from day one - it's just a background hum. If that.

Oh and houses here sell very quickly so I guess the proximity to the A-road doesn't bother those buyers either.

I don't think you can escape this, unfortunately.
I have friends living in a very remote location in the US and they can hear motorway noise from three miles away.
When all the vehicles are electric it won't be a problem!

Yes - all the inconvenience of a rural location with none of the benefits of peace and quiet!

Yes, we had friends in that situation. Road noise was not too bad at first, but it was later resurfaced with a much noisier material (they do vary a lot) and it became a real bugbear to them.

Okay, I'm sat on the drive. It's gentle back ground noise, mostly I can hear birds!

No chance of it being taken up by urban sprawl and I think a housing development in eye sight would be very unlikely!

It's one of those paradoxes in life. If you live in town then there is noise all around and you don't notice it. If you live in the countryside where it is generally quiet then the one noise several miles away (the A road) will be striking. It's amazing how far noise carries.
I would be put off if it was something like a motorway where you get noise but the nearest access junction is 20 miles away. All of the hassle but none of the benefit.

The UK is teeny really, you’re hard pressed to find a place that doesn’t get road noise of some sort. Even rurally, where wind direction, the shape of the landscape and the general quiet can accentuate any existing noise. Like others, it wouldn’t necessarily put me off.

If the road is quiet at night you should be okay. I lived on an A road for 15 years, busy during the day but dead at night, so no problem having a bedroom window open on to the road.

anyone reading this will be long dead before all cars are electric!

There’s going to be a massive, rapid expansion in electric vehicles very, very soon- I’m certainly not planing on being long dead by the time they are the norm obviously it’s going to take many years for the petrol/diesel cars to disappear but any reduction would be great for me.

I’m looking forward to my house with fields all round have much less noise from the nearby major road...

Yes, we did almost that, beautiful home with ten acres but with the front fence bordering a rural A road. The road got busier and busier during our ten years there and it took two years to sell!

Viewers that didn't mind the road didn't like the low beams in part of the house and vice versa. Wouldn't recommend it.

I personally can't bear the sound of traffic noise, and I'd go for a few viewings at different times of the day to make sure it is bearable. We nearly put an offer in on a lovely cottage that was a mile or so from a minor motorway. We didn't really hear much noise and certainly nothing inside on a Sunday morning, but going back again on a damp weekday evening, the noise was horrendous and we couldn't drive away quickly enough.

anyone reading this will be long dead before all cars are electric!

In 50 years I bet we are 100% electric.

I expect to be alive then!

I live rurally but by a motorway. I actually enjoy listening to the traffic noise far more than when I lived by a train line or under a flight path. It's soothing, background noise. And if you're close to an A road it means good travel routes so easier to sell.

Dealbreaker, I couldn't consider it.
Many people hardly go outside so wouldn't care if they had good insulation.

I could handle road noise in a city, but not with an idyllic view outside.

We used to live 1 mile away from the M62 in a small village in the late 80's, the sound reminded me of waves at the seaside.
30 years on we live in a very rural area, only 7 neighbours, neasrest town 10 min drive. The M25 is 1 mile away and in is totally intrusive, days and night, constant hum.
We bought here because we thought it would be the same as living the same distance away from M62.
It isnt!!! Traffic in the 80/90;s is very different to now,
An A road can be as busy as a motorway, dual carriageway noise travels.
Buyer beware.

I'm from the country. There's whacking great roads everywhere. It's how you get there!

I wouldn't live on the A303 but if people are looking for no road noise at all they might be being a little unrealistic. It does seem to put buyers off though.

Bird, yes, our nearby A road is like that. When I’m sitting in the garden it does mostly sound quite like waves coming into a stony beach.

My Dad's is on the sea front. I find it really noisy due to the sound of the waves!

We've put an offer in, there isn't that much road noise and I'm currently sat in our current home in the middle of a village listening to a neighbour loudly telling his wife to shut up, so it's an improvement on that 😂

Location is perfect and house will be eventually, no close neighbours and nothing but fields around us.