Would you buy this house if you had 2 kids??

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I love this house. It's in the area we want to be in. But the 3rd bedroom is down stairs. My DC are 5y & 3y. Initially i think they could share a bedroom and have the 3rd bedroom as a playroom but is this shortsited??

Also there's no drive or garage...parking down a path but not right next to the house. Garage can be replaced with large shed for man crap.

Give me some impartial thoughts as I'm slightly in love

Gorgeous house but not for me with small kids.

I think it’s a two bedroom house. It’s beautiful, but I would want the third bedroom to be in the loft and not sure if a conversion possible?

I don't think houses like this should be advertised as 3 bedroom. It's a 2 bed and that 3rd 'bedroom' is a study/reception room.
I personally wouldn't buy it.

It’s a beautiful house and the views are amazing. It’s so light inside too.

I'd buy it. With small kids & all. You'd find a way.

No.
It's very expensive for what you get. So little storage space. The bedrooms are basically in the attic.

I agree, that’s a 2-bed + study. Hence only one bathroom.

Also, have to say those rooms are terribly small. The best room is the square bedroom at the back, which I’m assuming is the one you’d give over to your DC to share. It’s big enough for bunk beds, small desks and tidy toy storage. Quite reasonable. Then you can use the downstairs study as an adults’ room.

Still, if I were looking to spend £500k, I wouldn’t want 4 people queuing up to showers/brush teeth/wash face every morning. That downstairs loo is teeny.

Looking again at the photos, seems the sellers have one small child. There’s lots of living area and not much sleeping or bathing space. It’d be ideal for a retired couple, I think. One good bedroom and bathroom, downstairs loo, decent kitchen and eating area for 2, and an abundance of extra space to pursue separate daytime interests/ activities/ hobbies.

It's a stunning house but there's no way on earth I'd want a member of the family away from the rest. Can't you reconfigure the upstairs somehow?

'Accessed via a hidden pathway'. I'd buy it just for that!

I can see why it might work in the short-term but I just don’t think the layout works for eg a 10 yr old and an 8 yr old.

There is one main reason why I wouldn't buy this house, and it is nothing to do with lay out.
Historically, there have been a lot of land slippages on this hillside. The road below was closed for over a year after the hill fell away. Some years ago a load of houses on this slope were rendered uninhabitable (I am not sure if it was permanent) by land slippage. Unless there are guarantees that the house had been underpinned down to bedrock, I wouldn't buy it.

@Lucisky that's interesting. We didn't know that as we're new to the area! Thank you. Do you know if the lower streets have been affected?

We did buy a house with 2 upstairs bedrooms and one downstairs. We put our non-sleeping 2.5 year old downstairs and the baby next door to us. It wasn't remotely an issue.

Now they are older (3 and 5) they share a room. We are planning to do an extension to put another room upstairs, but I wouldn't have a problem with either of them sleeping downstairs.

Agree with pp that you make the layout work for you, you soon adapt your habits (easier than reconfiguring a house!)

Looking at the satellite image, I seem to remember the area of really bad slippage was at Rockness, which is a bit further towards Nailsworth. The road below, that runs from Horsley to Nailsworth was out of commission for a long time. Stroud district council would be able to give you more information.

Sorry can't do links, but there are details of the landslip on line if you search for Horsley Hill land slip.(Courtesy of Glos. County council).

If you really love it then I’d buy it if I were you (assuming the land slippage isn’t an issue). I’d turn the living room into a bedroom when the kids are older and squeeze a tiny wet room in where the downstairs toilet is now. Google tiny shower rooms, there are some good examples.

You’d have to move the wall out a little bit and use a sliding door of some sort but I think it would be possible.

Could you split the master in two when they are older? Its a big room.

Sorry, my last word on this (the grey cells aren't as sprightly as they used to be), but the cottages that fell down the hill in, I think, the 90s, had big problems because they had been unable to get insurance for this eventuality. They were turn of the century, terraced and cotswold stone, so had been there for many years. If you decide to view you should ask the vendors if their buildings insurance includes landslip.

I love the house. Personally I would plan either on an extension or something like combining the dining room and study into a master suite (with en-suite bathroom). You could close up the door between dining room and kitchen.

There are lots of different layout configurations possible downstairs (eg making part of it more open plan, losing downstairs loo to enable you to enter dining room / future bedroom from hall and close up other door in sitting room). It just depends whether the remaining living space would be sufficient.

At that price you probably will have to make compromises for such a lovely 3 bed period property in that area, and I think a master suite downstairs would not be a huge issue. You may also be able to negotiate in price on the basis that it needs significant work to make the layout suitable for a family.

For that price, not a chance. I'd be looking for 4 bedrooms and a double garage but then I prefer modern houses, this house isn't very functional, it's characterful but I'm sure you can do better for your money.

No. For two reasons. First my parents had exactly that arrangement (except my downstairs bedroom was directly below a bedroom and next to the stairs). I credit it with giving me my light sleep/ not sleep very much sleep patterns I have as an adult. My parents moved me when I was 7 and my brother 5. I spent the next two years mostly sleeping on the floor of their bedroom. Even as an older child the noise of them being downstairs also really disturbed me.

However, the second reason I wouldn't buy it is that it's a really beautifully decorated, furnished and accessorised house and it's very, very easy to fall in love with that. Think how your furniture and accessories would look or how you could get the same look elsewhere.

We also lived on a street where our outside parking became fairly restricted which meant we almost always had a 2-3 minute walk from parking to door and couldn't see car from house. Sounds like a minor inconvenience but it was disproportionately annoying !

Have you considered this one? Needs a bit of updating but Randwick is a lovely village, close to Stroud and some good schools. Park on your doorstep for the kids
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66137671.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-57387660.html

Or this one if you want to be Nailsworth side of Stroud, slightly more accessible with easier parking and a better upstairs layout.