Do town houses work with young children?

[MilkyChopsKid]

By town houses I mean the ones with a integral garage, a kitchen on the ground floor but the reception room on the first floor. How can one keep an eye on the kids unless the kitchen is big or one has a conservatory?

I'm not about to buy in this market but opinions would be gratefully received for when things look better.

oh but this is so much fun (sorry everyone else!). I jumped off that garage once to see what would happen - answer being a sprained ankle (dur)

when I had all my hair cut off like a boy, I sold it to the wigmakers and got real cash for possibly the first time in my life - very exciting

I can remember being SO JEALOUS when you had an en suite shower room and that massive bedroom. funny the things one remembers!

I know - I'm now almost 33 and I've never had an en-suite since. God, that was a clapped out house too - remember the 'oh so special' dining room with faux mahogonique panelling ? Were my parents blind?

DH and I viewed a fabulous house in Bath yesterday, it reminded me of our parents' places as it needed blardy loads of work and we'd be stretched to just buy it but I still want it godammnit

I have a vivid memory of playing Richard Clayderman (from your book, I take no responsibility) on the piano in that dining room. (that's right isn't it, you did have one in there? I'm surely not now hallucinating town house happenings?)

ooh move to Bath. I can be really jealous then. Can you believe I've now been living exclusively on the ground since 2000. Me, who grew up in an attic bedroom on the top floor of a 4 storey house. What the hell happened?

Richard Clayderman - heck ! I inherited the piano and music, so can't lay claim to RC. Fortunately.

Aaah - the house we saw yesterday had two attic bedrooms. Even DH, who is normally a mute during house viewings, has fallen in love with it.

I can't believe you have a house all on one level. Is that the norm for NZ? Your dcs will never beleive that you catually grew up in a garret

no
allthose firgin stairs

my btohers has 72 stairs

Give you buns of steel though cod

Thanks for all your feedback, town houses either sound like a nightmare or places for creating terrific memories!

Now where does one get rum and raisin ice cream nowadays...

you are being very sporting as Chonky and I hijack your thread mercilessly

buns of steel - hmm - I blame living on the ground floor for the last 7 or so years for my general lardiness (of course the free availability of rum and raisin ice cream whilst growing up might also be a contributing factor).

it is normal to live in one storey in NZ (all that space), and we lived in 2 ground floor flats in London before that. I long to go upstairs to bed again.

chonky, you HAVE to buy that house, it is your destiny. You know it makes sense (if it works for DD of course)

Bath, chonky? That's where I live. For heaven's sake don't buy one that has a vertical garden as well.

Where did you look, nosey, nosey?

Hmm. Freely available rum and raisin ice cream? I remember us having to develop cat burglar skills to get to it once your Mum had locked up for the night (although we were too thick to remember to lock up after ourselves, so your Mum knew that we'd been foraging - durrr!).

ThingOne, the house is on Newbridge Hill. I heart it, but given the current market it is too expensive. Agree with MrsJC though that it is my destiny as it is decorated in wallpapers of my childhood. Any thoughts on the area?

MilkyChopsKid - thanks for being so patient with us hijackers. Townhouse or non-townhouse is not the important factor - you need to buy a really cruddy dilapadated (sic?) house - your children will love it forever .

nooooooooooooooooooooo

we lived in a townhouse for the first year and half of ds1's life

kitchen, loo and tv room on ground floor
next up, siting and dining rooms
next up, master bed and ds1's room
next up, 3 more beds

ugh, the stairs

had we stayed, one of the dsses would now be up 3 flights of stairs

We live in a 3 storey end town house and it is perfectly fine. No different to living in most other prprties surely? Yes we have a extra flight of stairs but it is only an extra 10 steps or so.

We moved here from a one floor apartment so was a bigger step than for most.

We moved here when DD was 3.5y and it has always been great.

Our set up is:

Ground floor: garage, toilet, utility and garden room. Garden room is cureently the dining room. This room has patio doors leading into the garden. There is also a back door leading to the garden but we never use this.

First floor: kitchen and living room. W did have the dining room in the large living room/diner, but are trying it different for a few weeks at present.

Second floor: 3 bedrooms, one ensuite, plus family bathroom. At present DD uses the third bedroom as her playroom, but it also has a sofa bed in for when our friends stay.

In the past we had the playroom in the garden room also, before the change round.

The garden can be accessed from the side too, and we have a gate wth a bolt which is padlocked on it.

WE have never really thought of any of it as a problem. DD has just played wherever, or in the garden, and I have just listened out for her on and off.

Only issue with toddlers we have found is that you would need to have more stair gates than in a normal house, and would probably make more use of a baby monitor.

I think ALL the townhouses round here have families with children in them!

Chonky - where do you live now? How well do you know the city? There are some great houses on Newbridge Hill. What are your plans for school?

Hulababy - sounds as if you have the crucial loo every other floor. Ten stairs I am sure is fine. 34 is not!

Agree about baby monitors, though - we couldn't hear a thing on lowest floor if child asleep on second floor.

oh dear
have been indulging in Bath property porn

saw several houses in that road Chonky but not sure which was the one you looked at

am now sitting here in a reverie dreaming of living in a fab house in Bath

It's the one on with Hamptons .

ThingOne, I'd appreciate uyour thoughts on schools. DD will need a SN school, but dh and I hope to have more dcs, so need to think ahead in terms of where we buy.

We're in Gloucesteshire at the moment. Market is as dead as a dodo.

Interested in this as am just looking at a town flat (if there is such a thing). Top three floors of a house. Living room and kitchen on the lowest floor but loo on second floor.

My concerns are - toilet training (have an 18 month old so am very naive on this)

And the stairs are very steep and narrow (it's georgian). We are in a flat atm so my daughter cannot do stairs at all. I assume you can teach a child to be safe on the stairs but my mum reckons DD will be dead before the year is out

Comments from wise ones with buns of steel already?

ThingOne - we don't have a toilet on the middle floor. According to DD there are 21 footsteps to all 3 toilets in the house from the living room

Do you mind hoovering stairs? That would put me right off.

Hoovering stairs is the worst. Would rather hoover 12 rooms than one flight of stairs.

We live in a tall house with lots of stairs (although we did put a loo in on same floor as sitting room - nightmare for potting training otherwise) and I like the fact that it's full of character.

It's not very practical though tbh. It's much harder to clean and I never go up or downstairs without carrying something (laundry is worst thing) and the family have to be on board about carrying stuff back up that they've brought down. You have to have multiple hoovers, cleaning materials, phones, phone books, mini-office centres etc etc for each floor, and then back this system up with military discipline and stair baskets.

It's not great with babies but I imagine it will be great with teenagers!!

The constant traipsing up and down can get to you tbh

it's all about attitude of mind ... and robust calf muscles ...

I did have bun of steel, it must be said. I've been very ill but my bum and legs were so strong that even with three/four months of inactivity (and treatment) before major surgery, another three months later I was still able to walk up one of Bath's notorious hills without panting. I am now getting very lardy around the bum and upper thigh as not well enough (more friggin' chemo) to march up hills very often.

I have to add that being ill did rather cloud my view of so many stairs.

The other problem was our rooms were too small and could not be changed. Enough space overall and would have been great for teenagers, but no good for babies and toddlers.

Stairs are not a problem. They have to learn!

Bath property porn is always delightful. We have only just moved but we still swoon over unattainable pads. There are always plenty.

Chonky both the houses I think it could be look great an practical enough unless I am being thick.

I don't know much about the SN schools. I do know that a new school has been built on my side of town which has a great new building www.threeways.bathnes.sch.uk/index.html. There are two primary schools nearby - St Martin's Garden which doesn't have a good reputation and Combe Down which does.

Bath is crap to drive across at busy times of day, so I would look at schools first, tbh, unless being near the RUH is more important. You can get to Bristol well from the south of town as well as the north, but getting to the M4/Gloucs can be a little more challenging at the wrong time of day

Most of the primary schools are good, some are excellent. I've not lived here very long so I only know the top tips and don't know the real story about the less popular and less favoured schools some of which will no doubt be great despite rumours.

For stairs by a handheld vacuum thingy, too much hassle with proper hoover.

we have put a nippy handheld vac thing in the 'moving expenses' budget

no way am I hoovering the stairs with our lumpen old Dyson