How do you feel about your holiday home

[Galliano]

Someone I know owns a small second home in France. I know second home ownership is contentious in general but it’s in an area where housing is not in demand and prices are decreasing. They say that having this little house to do up and escape to has had a huge positive impact on their mental health. I’ve noticed my son’s girlfriend’s parents seem exactly the same over a touring caravan they escape in through the summers. I’m contemplating acquiring somewhere to escape to, but can’t decide whether I’d actually feel positive or whether I’d just feel I’d acquired yet another thing to worry about.

Why not volunteer in a field you're passionate about - acts of service are fantastic for mental health - and then pay a local company for accommodation/rent a room in someone's home if you would like to get away. Don't buy a second home.

We have a second home (sort of- it was only semi-habitable when we bought it and we're slowly doing it up. Once it's done it will be our only home). I'm pleased we're doing it but it has come with a lot of worry and hard work. I certainly wouldn't see a second home as some sort of panacea for your mental health, far from it. Surely the option to rent somewhere in the country at the drop of a hat with no worries about maintenance is a much more relaxing one?

I wouldn’t want the responsibility of another property/vehicle, I’d rather just rent one when I need it.

We have a family second home in France. I bloody love it, it’s my happy place. It’s in an apartment block, which makes maintenance somewhat easier ( there’s a committee that looks after the large maintenance).

It is in a tourist village where the expectation is for there to be large numbers of second homes, which I think makes a difference (ski resort).

I’ve previously been a massive believer in just rent when you want to go somewhere but I guess it’s about having somewhere where you have roots and a routine. We have cash sat doing nothing so there is an element of investing and also having an asset our family can use which you don’t get with ad hoc rentals. If we bought in U.K. DH and I could potentially work from a holiday home for odd weeks and I’m wondering if that would make work feel less of a grind.

We have a holiday home in the UK, a tiny cottage on the coast somewhere not touristy and quite unknown and it's lovely. We haven't been there often since covid but are planning on going soon. It's near enough that we can drive there on a Friday night after work and come back before Monday morning and still have had a nice break. We used to have a holiday home in France too but the area became very populated suddenly so we sold.

It's tricky sometimes to handle having more than one property especially when it's a long drive away but it is doable

If you want a second home I suggest building one from scratch / renovating a barn or something. Don’t go buying up the little cottages and contributing to pricing out local people’s children. I presume you want to be able to relax and look the local people in the eye while tending to your mental health?

i don’t want to be specific about the area we are potentially considering but it’s not somewhere where second home ownership is very common or an issue. We have chatted with many locals and honestly not encountered anything but encouragement so far.

My family has a holiday home, which my mom owns and currently resides in full time. For about a decade it was treated as a vacation home, but after my dad died she found maintaining two homes stressful.

I am dreading the point where myself and 2 siblings inherit, as I think we will face a lot of pressure (self imposed and from the rest of the family) to hang onto it, but I don’t think any of us really want to responsibility for caring for it, the financial burden, the potential for conflict among family members with different desires/ priorities. It is a much loved place for us all, and I love taking the kids there for a couple of weeks each year, but the idea of being responsible for it fills me with dread.