Would you prioritise more space and fields or a family estate?

[Ash2345f]

We’ve just sold our current home as our family is growing, with our baby due in January 2027. We also have two five-year-olds, so we’re trying to make the best long-term decision for our family.

We’ve viewed two properties tonight, and both are fantastic in different ways.

Property 1 has noticeably larger bedrooms and more overall living space. It’s on a quiet back street, and the open-plan kitchen/lounge overlooks the garden. The garden has a gate leading directly onto Leisure Centre playing fields, so the views are lovely and there’s loads of open space for the children to run around and play.

Property 2 is on a modern, family-focused estate with lots of young families. We like the idea that, as the children get older, they could easily play outside with friends on the estate.

For those of you with older children, which would you prioritise? Would you choose the house with more space and direct access to open fields, or the one on the family estate where there are likely to be more children around?

Am I overthinking the first house because it might not have as many children living nearby, or is having access to so much green space actually the bigger advantage?

I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences from parents who’ve faced a similar decision.

Property 1 for me, definitely. You never know who your neighbour's will be, so I'd always prioritise a quieter location with more distance between me and other houses! And direct access to playing fields sounds great. My grandparents had a house with access to playing fields and we spent a lot of time out there, often making new friends. Why would an estate give more opportunity for kids to play outside? Sounds like house 1 is better set up for that to me... nice safe area to play away from roads.

I'd say go and look at both at different times of the day/week. Ideally year, but you probably don't want to wait. That's because it'll help you learn whether 1 has problem neighbours, and whether 2 seems lonely, and whether it's "you"-we all have different preferences.

Thanks for your thoughts I think I’m worried about it being in a back street the house circled is the one I have viewed however it faces onto the back of the Main Street of houses- not sure if this makes any difference it’s such hard work making a decision about houses 🙈

Durham.

Agree the front outlook is nothing to write home about but at least you are ensured of nothing out the back unless the field is developed in the future (and who can say it won't be in this day & age?).
What is the field used for at the moment, is there any antisocial use, funfairs, carnivals, events etc? Would you put a gate in so you can get direct access?

Like it or not, at least with the NB estate you know what the immediate area is like straight away.

I’d go for the one that backs onto the playing fields. Not having houses overlooking the garden would be a big plus for me. Obviously your neighbours to the sides can see into your garden but it will be a lot fewer than having houses at the back.

By the time your children are old enough to go off to play by themselves they’d probably prefer the field rather than streets or other small gardens and they’ll be friends with children from school who wouldn’t necessarily live nearby anyway.

I’d want a secure gate with a lock though!

I'd go for property one. There's no guarantee there will be kids similar age to yours on the estate where property two is or that they'll be friends.

I wouldn’t make a decision based on the playing fields, they could be developed on. We live on a family friendly estate, and it was lovely when DC could play out, but in reality there was only a few years between being old enough to play out independently and high school when playing out on the street wasn’t that cool. I’d prioritise living space, school catchment, and local amenities.

Check if the fields are likely to be developed at any time in the next 10 years.
Don't worry too much as you will almost certainly be moving again as the kids grow up.
which works best for you for the toddler years?

Perhaps you haven't found 'the one' yet - keep viewing.

Do check that there is right of way access from the garden gate onto the playing fields. There were some people round here who put gates in their back fences to access a council-owned recreation area and were firmly told to block them up again, as there was no right of way.

Check you council development maps online. The field may not stay a field for ever. If it turns into residential properties you have the benefits of the family estate on your doorstep. If it is commercial that would be a big issue.

I see the new housing estate popping up on the open fields and the unauthorised traveller encampment that takes ten days to move on.

Surely a back street is a positive? No main road noise.

I wouldn’t want to live on an estate. You run the risk of other peoples teenagers etc hanging around being antisocial.

It's a nice house, the only thing which looks a bit annoying is the on street parking opposite. If you look on that satalite view the current owners estate car is parked on the diagonal because there clearly isn't enough room to get it straight on the drive, if you have two cars and then a visitor will you be able to get them on straight if someone over the road parks a van there for example. Having lived in a cramped shared drive parking nigtmare that would annoy me.

Property 1. Love those playing fields. Agree with the advice on here about checking for development plans, right of way and a sturdy lock. I’d also put security cameras in the back garden. Definitely prefer that to a new build estate.

Just looked on the map (you might want to edit out the street name) and you should be pretty safe from development since it’s a sports centre. Obviously check for schools, public transport, distance to work and all the other things you value.

This argument wins for me. We overlook fields, never buy a house for a view. Planning permission has just been put in for a huge housing estate, it’s likely already a done deal and it’s green belt. My children are now likely to spend their childhood opposite a building site. At least on a ready developed housing estate there are no surprises. Visit it often at all different times of the day, any nuisance neighbours are likely to show up if you do this.

I would always be wary of buying for a "view" that is on the edge of a built up area. That view may turn into a building site.

Property 1 definitely

We are in the same situation here with the local plan redisignating green belt to grey belt. Fortunately we are on the other sode of the road but will live near a building site for several years and the local infradteucture can't sustain 300 more homes, and another 1500 across the borough.

A minute percentage will be affordable. The majority will be 4/5 bed executove homes at £1m+ so the argument is 100% flawed.

I would never base my decision on a view I don’t own. We recently bought in a market town and quite a few houses included “views over farmland” as a positive but we avoided all of those. The likelihood of those views not becoming housing estates, data centres, solar fields etc. in the next couple of decades is very low.

I would never buy based on fields or open ground, they'll be built on, almost guarantee it

Unless you own the view, dont buy because of a view

I would prefer a house where I know whats around and also where my kids have more opportunity to play out, kids dont seem to play out anymore.

Although depending on the estate, I also dont like those estates where cars have to park half on the pavement because the roads are so skinny.

Oh yes, and that, my parents live in a leafy part of south london over looking a big park and they have gypsies living there a lot, police are scared to move them along and you get lots of crime when they turn up

The ‘playing out’ years are such a small window! We lived on a family estate and it just didn’t happen as none of our neighbours had kids! I wouldn’t base a house purchase on the possibility of playing with other kids.