Would you live half a mile from a motorway?

[alanpartridgefromtheoasthouse]

We've seen a house that we love the look of. It's detached, four bedrooms, a lovely old character property in a nice little village.

The only thing is that it's 0.4 miles as the crow flies from the motorway. Would we be able to hear the noise from the garden do you think? Would there be higher pollution etc?

It's 60 miles from us (we're looking to relocate). Can't decide whether to traipse down and have a look at it or whether the motorway proximity is a deal-breaker.

We live approx. half a mile from the M25. You can’t hear it in the house but it’s a PITA in terms of how congested the roads leading to it become if there is even a slight accident or hold up. We also have a disproportionate amount of helicopters flying over our house.

I've always lived next to motorways. You get used to noise and don't really hear it. Its better than a road traffic as its constant, no stopping etc

Where is the motorway in relation to house, at same level or in a cutting, check prevalent wind direction , screening of trees, ambient noise etc. Level of pollution and noise will vary on above. We live a similar distance but any background motorway noise not really as much of an issue as living on a main road. It is in a cutting and prevalent wind takes it the other way.

I think you will hear it but very quickly you won’t be aware of it at all and will stop hearing it.

You also need to visit on different days/times too. We looked at another property similar distance to motorway but where it was on same level as house, across an open field, and the noise level was very much more intrusive.

@LIZS

Where is the motorway in relation to house, at same level or in a cutting, check prevalent wind direction , screening of trees, ambient noise etc. Level of pollution and noise will vary on above. We live a similar distance but any background motorway noise not really as much of an issue as living on a main road. It is in a cutting and prevalent wind takes it the other way.

I hadn’t thought of it but our house/motorway is lined with very mature trees - you can’t actually see anything. But obviously we know it’s there.

We're half a mile from the M6, with some open space and one industrial unit between us. All you can hear outside are the birds and leaves rustling.

as more and more cars are electric over the next ten years, you may be picking up a bargain now...

I live in a town a couple of miles from the M1. I can hear a very dull hum from the motorway outside (not disturbing at all) but far more disturbing is the noise of the police helicopters.

I grew up in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of miles from the nearest motorway. My student boyfriend was visiting and we were going for a walk, it was a gorgeous still day, you could hear the birdsong and a person cycling up the brae half a mile away when he asked 'Can I hear the motorway?' It was the sea, five miles away.

I live that close to the M1 on a relatively quiet bit (for a motorway). A few houses them fields. You do hear the traffic occasionally, yes.

However, that only tends to be when a) it's warm, still, and peaceful enough for me to be sitting out in the sun in the middle of summer, or having a quiet early morning brew before the rest of the world wakes up, so about 4 days a year. And B) at night when the world is asleep and I'm not (chronic insomnia and I sleep with the window open).

The rest of the time, you can occasionally hear it, but not really notice it iyswim - there's always some other reason to be outside where other noise hides it - kid noise, lawnmowers, cars on the estate the fucking dog next door

The only time I HATE living so close is if there's an accident, and all the traffic decides to take a short cut through the village. Which of course is totally unsuitable for hundreds of hgvs and the whole place gets gridlocked. This is a few times a year and is way more disruptive.

I use the motorway every day to get to work, and my commute would take at least twice as long without it, it's a reasonable play-off.

No, I wouldn’t. We live half a mile from a busy single lane A road (50mph zone) and we can hear it at night. You’ll definitely be able to hear the motorway.

We lived half a mile from a very busy dual carriageway, could definitely hear it but it didn't bother me, you get used to it and it might sound odd but I find noises like that kind of comforting. Hate other people noises like neighbours, but cars in a distance is just a very steady noise, worst house was next to traffic lights with people speeding up to beat them! And hearing people on their car phone systems when stopped (SO loud!)

We used to rent a house that backed on to a dual carriageway that lead to a motorway junction. It was never really an issue. Never a problem inside. Outside, yes you could hear it but it was never intrusive and you forgot about it after a minute or two. You need to go there at different times of day and see what you think.

@ladycatstark - I can hear bikes heading to the Isle of Man boat where I live also (and I go to the TT and MGP on my bike 😬). There's nothing quite like the sound of an Akropovic, it's a harbinger of summer 😂🇮🇲

We live 0.5 miles from the A1M.

It's fine.

The trains make more noise.

Motorway traffic is a bit more "background" noise than A roads and the like.

Yes you most likely will. We live 1 mile from the M4 and the constant rumble at 517Hz drives me absolutely bonkers. Worse at night with window slightly open, worse in winter when there is no tree cover. This is with the Mway in a cutting too.

We aim to downsize to the country in a couple of years’ time and being nowhere near an Mway or main A road is actually our number 1 priority and has helped us to narrow down our search area.

...and the first lockdown was bloody HEAVEN. Our garden was SILENT. 😀

I used to live in the house circled. (Fingers crossed the picture uploads!) Those huge trees meant we heard very little indoors and not much more outdoors. It was more of a vague underlying noise rather than an intrusive noise. It wouldn’t put me off again, but our barrier was properly designed. If it was open you’d here a lot more.

We live probably that close to a minor motorway. The only time I’ve noticed it is when we camped in the garden and in the silence of the night I heard the lorries as a background hum.
Mostly I hear birds, trees rustling and small children

It doesn't sound like traffic noise, more of a wooshing like the sea. Not intrusive.

This is so interesting, thank you everyone! The general consensus seems to be that we would hear it but it might not be that intrusive. I think we'll have to visit to see for ourselves, although, as a PP said, we might not get a true picture at the moment. I will have to bear that in mind.

The house is very well-priced and this is the only thing I can think of that could be driving the price down.

I grew up just over half a mile from the M5 and my mum was still in the house until recently.

Motorway was in a valley though - we could hear it but it was just background noise and we couldn't see it at all.

Friend lives in a house with M42 at the end of the garden and I think it's horrible- can see the traffic and the signs and it's so loud - no way! That said, it was the was the motorway that made it affordable for their budget.