Is this house too remote?

[HungryHouseHunter]

Name change. We are considering putting an offer on this house. It's exactly the style we want with more land than we wanted but I'm worried it's too far from Winchester where we started looking. To get the train station I'll need to drive, to get to the shops I'll need to drive! Does anyone do this ? Do you end up resenting the inconvenience? Also value for money?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145236887

Ah - I see - it's a hop and a skip from a village. That's semi-rural in my book.

My nearest shop is 1.5 miles away and it is a tiny village store. Nearest town (over the border) is about 13 miles away.

We live in SW London and the joy of living here is being able to walk everywhere we need to - or take public transport.

I hate driving anyway but for me I need to be able to get where I want on foot.

That one’s beautiful @Another2Cats and you get a lot more for your money.

Re noise from the road (motorway?). You said you think the trees absorb the noise. Are they evergreen? Cos if not, that sound barrier disappears for seven months of the year. We got a nasty shock after moving during covid when nobody was out and about to post Covid in winter when the surrounding teeny forest shed its leaves! Was not expecting that o_o

(still nowhere as bad as farmers, mind - constant traffic noise is easy to get used to, unexpected loud noises at random times are not)

And I agree with a PP, only having one of us drive has been problematic.

As has the general lack of roads. Because there are so few around us they are very, very busy and people thunder up them. Which is fine in winter with very few leaves on hedges but far less fun on blind corners and twisty roads when hedges are full and big in spring to autumn.

We live about half an hour from the nearest main road to go towards where we have been house hunting and I am not able to do my makeup in the car for the first 25 minutes to help with Hazard Watch on the roads.

I know the area and this isn't remote. It's slightly outside the built up area of Compton and Shawford. The villages are right beside the M3 motorway. I have been to the Bridge Inn in Shawford and have walked along the Itchen to the Compton Lock.

But if the OP wants 5 cafes outside her doorstep, I think she needs to stay in London.

I live rurally, I drive for everything. Doesn’t bother me at all. I see friends because a lot of people have these automobiles nowadays, they’re really catching on. You can’t live a £2 million country pile and expect to be within walking distance of a train station.

Yeah, going from town or City can be a bit of a culture shock if you don’t ease in gently.

Someone mentioned taxis. We can book Ubers from a major town six miles away but our local group says the drivers often just cancel them.

Our local chippy closes at 7pm!

OP , I told the OH about this thread and he said the OP needs to go rent a similar air b and b in a similar location during term time whilst also WFH to see how you cope with the environment when you are not just on holiday and able to have nice lie-ins and leisurely plan your chores.

Good idea that if possible

Remote??!!
Its only a few miles outside of Winchester! Remote to me is an island off the west coast of Scotland. Maybe the Yorkshire Dales at a push.

I don't know about the OP but for me, what I like about city living is a lot more than cafes.

It's having all sorts of amenities walking distance from my house - library, supermarkets, theatre, cinema, swimming pool, pubs. We can go out in the evening, both drink and walk or use public transport to get home.

And then population density means my kids have friends within 5 mins walk, when they are old enough they can walk over on their own. All of their activities are within easy walking distance - beavers, swimming, extra curriculars.

And childcare is very straightforward - the school has wraparound, there are half a dozen holiday clubs within easy walking distance, babysitters etc

I understand that a lot of people don't value these things and/or don't mind driving (I hate driving) but it's a lot more than an oat latte that I would be giving up if I moved somewhere like this

@KievLoverTwo So true about Uber. I wouldn't rely on Uber in that location. The Uber will come from Southampton and they often won't go this far north. I can just about get them because I'm closer to the airport, and the drivers will often pick me up because they are already at the airport. (And I only go to the airport and not further away from Southampton). I have heard, locally, that it's a bit of a struggle with Uber in Otterbourne, and this is slightly further.

I live in similar looking location (half the price mind) it is glorious! Total peace, only cows, sheep and horses for neighbours, I don't get bored of driving home after a long people full day to the tranquility. Kids and dogs can also be as loud as they want without me stressing about annoying anyone. The garden and outside space is really special for the kids to enjoy and explore, having their friends round is great fun when the weather is nice.
There is nothing nicer than the total darkness and silence when sleeping, I love it but friends have said they would find it too quiet so it's personal preference.
I can walk to a tiny village about 30-40 mins away which we do frequently for cafe/primary school/shop but otherwise heavily reliant on car.
I would say for your budget I'm disappointed theres no pool.

This is an important factor. Lots are people are saying "it's next to the M3!" But actually if taxis won't go there, that's something to consider.

You shouldn't depend on rural pubs and shops though; pubs are still shutting at a high rate. We live not far from a very wealthy, quite large village and the last pub has just closed. The economics are so tough and owners can make such a massive profit on selling old pubs for housing.

@HungryHouseHunter Uber is also in Winchester but this house is quite out of the way. I'm further south so mine always come from Southampton. I'm not sure who you can ask about this. Everyone in the area drive, unless you are under 17 or a pensioner.

If you have kids, you'll have to drive to everything. Guides, beavers, swimming, cricket, football, ballet. You'll be expected to drop off with your car too. The furtherest DC1 guiding group met was the Rock Up in Fareham. That's a good 25min drive. Mostly it's just 5-10min locally.

"It's having all sorts of amenities walking distance from my house - library, supermarkets, theatre, cinema, swimming pool, pubs. We can go out in the evening, both drink and walk or use public transport to get home."

Wow, I've never had all that in any city that I ever lived in.

The last city I lived had a population of 250,000 people. Distances from our home to the following:

library - 3.5 miles
supermarket - 1 mile
theatre - 3.5 miles
cinema - 4.5 miles
swimming pool - 2.5 miles
pub - 1.5 miles

None of those I would walk to. Also, after 6pm there is only one bus an hour from the city centre (which is where most of the pubs and restaurants are) to the suburb where we used to live.

Before then we lived in a very nice part of Hale (it's to the south of Manchester, near the airport)

Distances from our home to the following:

library - 1.2 miles
supermarket - 2 miles
theatre - 2 miles
cinema - 2 miles
swimming pool - 2 miles
pub - 0.7 miles

Actually, that was a good thing about living there - a very nice pub about a 15 min walk away. Never walked to any of the other places.

There was a bus stop just around the corner but buses were only once every hour.

I really am amazed that you have found homes that are so close to so many things. My experience has been very different.

There are lots of places like this. Salisbury for example. Sometimes the bigger cities won't have this of course but they may have excellenr public transport.

Maybe it's a London/ not London thing.

We have lived in London for 20 years now in 4 different areas all of which tick those boxes.

Or maybe it's a city centre Vs suburbs thing? I have friends who live in central Manchester who have pretty much the same experience as me.

We live rurally in a small hamlet and have for years.

You really do get used to not being able to walk to shops and pubs etc.

We have to make sure we are organised, have lots of food and wine etc in as you cant really pop out for something. We have lots of freezers!

However our internet is excellent and taxi's/deliveries do come here.

As for the noise, we live opposite a farm and so its earplugs for the noise at night.

I love living in the middle of nowhere, you just feel you can properly shut yourself away from the world when you need to.

The station is 1 mile away, that's a 20 minute walk! A short bike ride if needed. You surely don't need to drive very time?

"Or maybe it's a city centre Vs suburbs thing? I have friends who live in central Manchester who have pretty much the same experience as me."

Yes, I think you're probably right. Although central Manchester is definitely not the sort of place I would ever want to live personally.

But I think you're very much right that it is a split between city centres and elsewhere.

Well if you are commuting at times, I think yes.

Holy crap that EPC. Let me break it down for you. EPCs are vastly inaccurate. We lived in a stone cottage with single glazing and it was an EPC E41, so, better than yours.

The reality - because it was also detached and very exposed was that we got through the entire year's worth of KwH on the EPC within 4 months in heating alone. The people who assess these also don't seem to account for area: you could be at the top of a mountain in Scotland and they won't calculate the energy efficiency any differently than a suburban road in the middle of London where you get a ton of residual warmth coming up the ground from neighbour's heating systems.

I've done the sums on your EPC on the basis that yours is inaccurate as our last, detached stone house:

The kwh stated x 160% = 122,876 kwh per year (before you even turn on a kettle) - bear in mind we're both at home all day so we use more (which accounts for an approximate 40% increase in kwh in terms of how many occupied hours they assess on)

There are 10.36 kwh to each litre of oil, so your oil usage is 11,860 litres per year.

The average cost I pay for oil throughout the year (lowest since 2023 56p, highest 86p) is around 70p per litre.

At that cost, you'll be spending £8,302 per year on heating oil.

BUT.

When we first moved into a house that was on oil (summer 2021), oil was 45p a litre. Locals were reminiscing about the summer three or four years ago when it was 26p a litre - they thought that summer's price was a rip off. This is where the view that oil is cheaper than gas seems to have come from. It used to be, but at this very precise moment in time, it's pretty much neck and neck.

Come March 2022 when the Russian invasion of Ukraine had been going on for a month or two and oil supplies from the region were cut off (or lowered? I forget), the price of oil rose to £1.30 per litre.

OIL IS NOT REGULATED. THERE ARE NO PRICE CONTROLS. THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT STEP IN AND SAY 'COUNTRYSIDE FOLK ARE GETTING RIPPED OFF, WE'RE GOING TO CAP YOUR PRICES, YOU NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY OIL BARONS.'*

Guess what happens during a crisis like this? The members of OPEC get together and decide they're going to release 1 million fewer barrels because they want to keep their prices high. This happens often depending on market conditions throughout the world (my weekly oil price email has a handy world update).

I doubt very much that we're likely to see an oil crisis as bad as 2022 as the world seems to have woken up to energy security, but, let's take a doom-mongering view:

11,860 litres of oil @ £1.30 per litre = £15,418 per annum

Now, if that Aga is one of those old electric ones like ours whereby the only way to use it is to keep it on all day long (yours is slightly smaller), you currently need to add:

£6240 per year to keep the Aga on 24/6

That brings your energy bill to over 22k per annum before you've even put a washing load or dishwasher on.

I'd like to re-state this is an extremely doom-mongering view of the world (we literally had to move house after that invasion - it took AGES for oil to even get back down to 90p) - but, do ask yourself, if the very worst happens, is that house 22k per year on energy level of 'lovely, my absolute dream home' - or is it not?

The other thing is the potential to upgrade. Yeah, you can make your energy cheaper by making the suggested changes but a top rating of E46 still means you're going to be absolutely balls off cold all year round.

I had a flip through the photos and LOL'd at the itsy bitsy wood burners and the teeny weeny miniscule heaters in the room - does someone from the Antarctic live in that house?

You're all gonna be huddled round the floor underneath that Aga, OP. Cos nowhere else in that house is going to be warm in winter, imo.

Ofc, it's possible they've shoved up insulating boards and/or insulating thermal lining wallpaper which might help - neither of which will hit the EPC. But, vaulted ceilings + wooden walls = you need MANY, MANY very vast wood burners in that house.

Sorry for the essay. Wouldn't bother if you weren't a complete countryside newb.

*the government gave people with no gas supply an additional £200 towards energy bills in 2023 (on top of the £400 electricity credit everyone got), which they paid directly to the electricity company, in bloody MAY, haha

I would struggle to call that remote. It's a mile from the M3 and a stone's throw from the most heavily populated part of South East England besides London.

Yes you will have to drive to lots of places, but that is true of most of Hampshire as the public transport is in general quite poor.

I can't comment on the bang for buck for that particular house. If you like the area, I'm sure you'll find something in your budget which is closer to the amenities you want.

If you can afford this you can easily afford to drive! It looks beautiful I think you should do it!