Should we move? Can’t decide!

[Dappledgrey]

We currently live in a lovely 3 bedroom bungalow in a lovely country village. We have a biggish garden with a gated driveway and complete privacy. It’s quite idyllic and I have loved living here.

We have 1 DS and another baby on the way and the house just doesn’t feel big enough for a family of 4 so we have looked at extending it and have planning permission to add a small 4th bedroom (DH works from home and needs an office) and a nice kitchen diner.

Then last Friday happened… we’ve had flooding before but this got too close for comfort the water reached out neighbour’s front door and the bottom of our drive. We were also completely stranded with no way out until Saturday afternoon.

I have always kept up to date with the houses available in the area and there has been nothing in our price range for the 4 years we’ve lived here. Today we went to look at a house in a neighbouring village that had more than enough room for us all… but it’s a new build (private developer) and although there are fields along the side and back it is overlooked by next door and is on a small street which isn’t what I’m used to.

I don’t really know what I’m asking in this thread as I feel like it’s a very head/heart situation. I just don’t want to move and then regret the life we have now.

thank you for listening sorry it’s long!

You don't say what age your DC1 is, but a key point in the equation has to be schools. Not just primary but secondary too. How will these pan out for you in each location?

I speak as someone also in an idyllic country village, where my only regret is that the secondary is OK but not fantastic. You can be effectively locked into the school chain much earlier than you anticipate! (Hard to move a second time in say 5/6 years).

Hmmm sounds good where you are!
our village flooded a lot and the council put in lots of new drains and channels, hadn’t flooded since.
is it worth a look at these kind of measures first?

@FraterculaArctica DS is just about to turn 2 and has been accepted into the local preschool in our village for next year. Ideally I would like him to go to school there too but it is not the catchment school for the new house. The catchment school isn’t a bad alternative though and the high school is the same.

@Twoshoesnewshoes this was my thought! Basically the flooding comes from off the fields and basically creates a river down the road straight past our house and flows straight into the river which isnt a problem. The issue is that when there is too much it overflows very closely to us and any more could push our house to flood. Fortunately it is constantly draining away so not sitting there for days on end. I would like to see if the council could sort some flood defences for us but not convinced they are ever going to do anything to be honest.

Thank you for your comments!

Flooding would really frighten me and if it ever reached your home it would immediately become something you would have to declare during any potential sale thus making your property much harder to sell.

Personally, I would be looking to move house to one on higher ground with no risk of flooding.

Could you build a small berm on edge of your garden to channel the flowing water away from the house? It wouldn't need to be that high by the sound of it and you could have a speed bump like rise on the entrance to your drive.

I wouldn’t tolerate flooding risk. I’d move

Great idea @TheNoonBell thank you!!

If it's surface water flooding it's very hard to know exactly where the risk is until you have exceptional weather.

Are there mitigating steps you can take? Is it the back or front? Drainage channels, build a small wall, ensure surfaces are permeable in problem areas. Clear the grids outside your home regularly. It's a different proposition to living next to a river.

I'd spend a bit of money looking into this before making any decision as it sounds like you have a good property that could suit you long term.