Cute cottage or modern build?

[OhamIreally]

Just daydreaming really. Live in a London. In a few years my plan is to move to Yorkshire.

I've been looking at some beautiful cottages for sale online including one in Staithes with stunning views.

As with all my daydreams I have ruined it by worrying about insulation, cost to heat, maintain etc.

So what do you think? Approaching 60 would you go for the cute cottage or something modern, well insulated?

Top of budget would be £400k, preferably less.

I am from Yorkshire and know it's a big county by the way

I grew up in a cottage with incredibly thick stone walls - insulation not an issue. later brick ones do need work though, but then a lot of new builds aren’t built to last.

I’d look for a well modernised cottage if a cottage is what you want.

Insulation may be less of an issue - the energy needed to heat the place including those walls tends to be much more than in a modern build ... as my friends In beautiful stone builds frequently remind me at this time of year !

We are in a reasonable sized 3 bed - usually just the two of us with bills in the low category - more typical of a flat or 1 bed house

We have no additional sources of heating but do have solar panels ( default for modern homes in Scotland )

www.ofgem.gov.uk/average-gas-and-electricity-usage

I'd go for opposite- new hoise that had been adapted to look like it has period features!

You don't want to be dealing with damp etc in your old age. But get a new house in a quaint old villlage so you can still enjoy the vibe of the little cottages

I think it is hard to change the mindset, after all, if thicker stone walls are better we could live in nice warm castles, cavity walls would never have been invented and houses could be built from massive stone blocks. They are thick and stone - they must be warm !

Modern insulation performance is amazing. We can look to the Nordic countries to see what can be done with wood and a relatively thin layer of insulation.

I think time and education will generally change the mindset, but it will take a long time - probably another generation for the population to get a handle on it.

Heart = cottage

Head = modern home

I've lived in both (grade 2 listed at one point, currently in a new build). I'd buy another new build but wouldnt buy another cottage.... absolutely freezing, grade 2 listing was inconvenient, very expensive to insure etc etc. (I did love the look of it though!)

Moving out of a lovely warm new build into a 100 year old cottage next week. I'm not looking forward to finding out how cold it gets. But worth it for a gorgeous new home.

Will be looking into renewables like solar panels and small turbines.

For me comfort and cosy trump insulated modern homes.

Moving out of a lovely warm new build into a 100 year old cottage next week. I'm not looking forward to finding out how cold it gets. But worth it for a gorgeous new home.

I did that once, cute character cottage, I lasted a year before I moved out, the cold made me miserable, let alone the heating bills, the character features soon lost their charm for me.

@SuddenlyOld I hope you enjoy the move, one thing to consider in rising temperatures is that old stone walls are very cool in summer. Having renovated an older house we have lived in a long time completely including new windows, new build elements, insulated plaster board and doors, filling in floor voids etc you can make an old house efficient but it takes cash and time. As your primary home I think the investment value question is slightly hollow as whilst no one wants to overpay you need somewhere to live and may not be selling for a while. Or ever on the open market, houses in our village often pass through family or not on the market, especially the family homes one referencing the excellent point that limited types of housing stock are likely to be available in the countryside. New builds near us have shared access and maintenance costs, no prospect of extension, some have genuine construction issues due to cut corners, no loft and they look roasting in summer. I think you have to be savy and realistic about budget but you can get the wrong new build and the common contribution costs attached together with the hassle of joint access should not be discounted. Some older houses are absolute money pits though. Our renovation to that extent was only realistic as so much needed to be done. Maintenance is key in the older house and too many people run them down but in our case that might be OK as they were cheaper and it allowed us to completely remodeling without too much guilt. That did cost a packet though. Housing in this country is not fair and is at the route of many problems we have I think.

We chose a cosy cottage, it has a rubbish EPC, but it stays lovely and cosy with a small amount of heating anyway. We have flagstone floors and they were cold to start with and seemed to make the rooms a bit nippy, but we found that just putting a large rug down helped with that.

Overall it really doesn't cost us anymore than our previous newbuild did, with the bonus that in summer it is easy to cool and we don't need fans or air con. I think the old thick walls do help keep heat in. I don't find EPCs to be worth the paper they are written on, they are in no way accurate in my experience.

Modern for me, easy to change about, big windows and big doors onto garden, light, warm, easy to decorate and clean.