Buying house on v hilly single track lane

[Popcorn76]

Does anyone have an experience of living on a hilly lane? We are moving to Devon and have found a house we love which has amazing views but it has been on the market a very long time, I think due to the access.

It is on an adopted lane (bin lorries do collect and it has had its roof replaced so I assume construction traffic can access) but the lane has a warning triangle for a 33% gradient (I think only for a tiny stretch), I found a cycling website that said the max gradient was 17% and av 11%. In the v steep direction the lane is 500m to a bigger road and in the other direction 2.5km.

My main concern is ice in winter. Will we be stranded? I do have children to get to school and can't wait it out until the ice melts. In addition it is a traditional Devon lane with no verges, hilly banks each side so I assume will be shady and wet with run off from fields. Any ideas, are we silly to even consider this? House is perfect otherwise.

I lived in Devon for four years for work years ago. Admittedly it wasn’t rurally. But in all that time I remember never having to scrape frost off my windscreen. The winters were wet and drizzly and misty, but frost and ice were never a problem compared to when I lived about an hour north of Devon.

A friend bought an isolated property at the end of a long mud track.

I remember it could get very muddy and bumpy in wet weather. It could also dry out with deep ruts. I had a small suv so it wasn’t a problem for us. We had to remember to take welly boots as we’d need them to get out of the car to open her gate. Her location and views were to die for.

She had a post box at her gate so postie obviously didnt go down. I think her access was dependant on weather. She ended up having the worst bits resurfaced. If the weather made things very bad it’s possible supermarket/amazon deliveries wouldn’t make it.

I think it would depend on wether I could still get the kids to school by walking to main road and picking up the car there. What a wonderful experience for the kids though.

Id definitely ask the locals before buying. People in locations like these are very helpful and farmers are usually the go to for help.

My brother who lived at the top of a regular village once couldn’t get an oil delivery because the last little bit was too steep and icy for the tanker to negotiate. Also the village was in a dip and regularly the three roads out iced up and people with regular cars couldn’t get out. This wasn’t a remote village up north, but in the middle of Hampshire. People just adapted.

It really depends what matters to you. It sounds like you would have to have more preparation. It would be like going back in time when people were more self reliant. This either appeals or not.

God no. Sounds frightening.

How would your kids get around when they are older? Will you forever be lugging them around?

Worth remembering that in summer the lanes in Devon are heaving with traffic and you will have to be good at reversing!

I lived in North Devon for 6 years until 2018. I remember it snowing once, a light sprinkling that didn't last and don't remember ever having to scarpe the car or there being ice on the roads. Now in the South East, and I regularly have to scrape the car and there is often ice. Rain is more likely to be a problem, with dips flooding and deep puddles. Make sure you are good at reversing and don't care about hedges scraping the side of your car.

The road surface is actually pretty good, all tarmac with no potholes, although there is a small amount of grass in the middle in places. I don't think flooding will be an issue given the gradient, there are no dips. Also it is not really a through road and off the tourist route so I don't anticipate too much traffic other than a few tractors and the residents of the isolated holiday cottages. I checked the reviews of those and a couple of people commented on the road but on the whole people felt the trade off for the setting was worth it. I assume the holiday cottage visitors are not in the depth of winter though.

Think I will have a little trip down and stay locally to get more of a feel for it. Thanks all for your comments, lots to think about.

For about 6 years I lived up a track off a single track road in Hampshire that was about 4 miles to a main road and there were a couple of hills on the way home, but nothing quite that steep. I now live somewhere marginally less rural but have a very steep driveway. We found winter tyres on 2WD made far more difference on ice than 4x4 with summer tyres but I now have both and of course since then it hasn't snowed significantly. It's not that expensive if you can get a cheap set of spare wheels on ebay, as your summer tyres won't be wearing out as fast.

I can't imagine Devon's all that icy but if it is you will get the hang of it pretty quickly and single track roads usually have the advantage of being quite quiet in winter. Also if the weather is that bad the schools are likely to close - the ones in the local town here usually do.

I'm really envious of people who live somewhere that rural, I miss it so much.