Calling all Cambridgeshire folk!

[HarrietTheSpy]

Please tell me about March and if you know it a village called Manea. Near Ely. Pretty? Pretty friendly? Close to decent schools (state or private?) Live in outer London now - would you bother to go here for a big relocation or would you keep looking elsewhere? Interested in Essex/Cambridgeshire.

xx

Well, my heart is still with a move to Cambridgeshire - so very open to suggestions!!

OOh, can't resist a challenge, even though I should actually be getting on with painting the larder...

Oh wow, I love it! Yes, yes, yes, go for it!

It's got to be the Georgian house, hasn't it? Buy it and go on the S.P.A.B period property course and show it off in glory.

The only immediate problems I can see are that the kitchen has no window, and the study and utility rooms only have small window, and that the conservatory doesn't seem to have any actual blinds, which might make using it on a hot day rather unpleasant at the moment.

I have to admit you've stumped me on location, though - I don't know the village at all, and nor does my sister. She does say, though, that the Colne valley, 12m or so to the East, is very pretty and slightly hilly.

Grendels. It was the one before and it transpires it's unmortgageable, the main beam has broken in the house.

Will look more closely at your option and see...

Oh no - you beat me at the house-guessing game . I thought your budget had leapt quite a bit higher suddenly, but saw the Georgian house and fell in love!

Have they sawn through the main beam, or has it actually rotted and fallen apart? My sister saw a gorgeous cottage and then discovered that the beam had been chopped through when creating the loft conversion. I don't suppose you've got £550k spare to buy the house outright and tie the beams back together?

Ahem. Should be getting on with some actual work for once.

No chance we have the half mil, unfortunately. Not sure what they've done to the property - it is possible it's just wear and tear somehow???

Well, I'm not an expert, but I would think that for a main beam to break, either it's been sawn through, or there's been a fire, or there's been leaks in the roof to the extent that the entire beam could totally rot away, or there's been an unbelievably bad infestation of death watch beetle, or I suppose there might have been dry rot, though I don't know anything about that. The main beam would be a seasoned piece of oak, and the heartwood is incredibly strong. I think anything (except sawing) bad enough to break a main beam of a timber house would have caused very widespread damage elsewhere. Keep well away!

Do you know what though? I am impressed the estate agent told me about it before getting us there. There is a surveyors report provided by the vendor (think it's another estate sale) which she was supposed to send me but I guess gave up when I told her we didn't have the cash as readies. Also told me the location wasn't ideal, and wondered whether I'd looked on the map. I feel like another outfit would have just let us rock up anyway with no regard for our time. (I guess I'd be pissed, conversely if I were trying to sell it through her though!)

I was just near Earls Colne today - it looked charming and Halstead looks very pretty as a nearest small shopping town.

How about this one? This house looks a bit like ours, in that it's a timber framed house where for some reason they have totally screwed up the outside to make it look grim externally, not too hard to fix. Imagine a largish farmhouse with white render outside and pale green paintwork, and then follow this link.

www.dezrez.com/Drapp/Search.ASP?WCI=PortalBrochure&WCE=01506888&Template=PortalBrochure&P ortalID=72&eaid=663

Grendelsmum
You still there? Apparently the owners of this house are trying to get the insurance to pay out for the broken beam. The estate agent called me today. So...we might still go and see it on an upcoming open house day.

Incidentally, it looks like the very first house we went to see in March is off the market.

Sorry - Manea.

Oooh - that's exciting! I'd been vaguely wondering what had happened to your house hunt.

I'm still worried about how you break a main beam, and what else can have gone wrong, though. If you like the house when you've walked round it once, I think it would be worth walking round again with one of you checking the bottom of the walls for damp patches (peeling wallpaper, bubbling wallpaper, bubbling paint, salts appearing on the wall etc), and one of you checking the ceilings for damp stains. It's not that hard to fix a damp problem (or it hasn't been hard for us) - but it is very timeconsuming.

And this is obvious BUT - it's a really big house, isn't it? That's an awful lot of house to fix. There are definite advantages to that (as you can have several rooms out of operation and still have plenty to live in) but it means you've got more that needs repairing and redecorating.

Did the house in Manea sell? That will be to someone who doesn't read Mumsnet

Grendels
Hi. I'm pretty sure they took that house in Manea off the market. The e agent never got back to me about the insurance claim. I reckon it's a slow burner or they're not paying up.

In the intervening weeks we've had to redo our bathroom here (major water pouring into the kitchen below). I've spent so much I have to live here a bit longer I think. It did actually remind me how stressful I found writing out checks to builders who bang on about how great they are incessantly...what a great price I'm getting (as my savings sinks lower)...no one is more talented than they are, etc which also puts into perspective the prospect of a BIG PROJECT and dealing with this for months and months and months.

Also - and this is a biggie - had a very stressful driving lesson in September. This is stage one isn't? A pass? Else rural dream over.

Oh gosh! How awful for you! It's one thing to chose to have builders move in, but quite another to have an emergency and have to have it fixed.

But, to look on the bright side, at least you haven't bought a house in Manea or one with a broken main beam!

Agreed. The place in Manea - can 'o worms is an understatement. Ditto the beam.

Did you clock my comment of not passing my driving test yet?

Depends on how rural you want to go! We deliberately picked a place where you don't need a car to get around - bus and bike is fine (we have one car for the family and occasionally one of us takes it away for a week or so). The only thing a car really comes in handy for is emergency trips to B&Q!

I know you're not necessarily thinking about moving any more, but this house looks like it has a lot going for it (south facing garden, very good schools in village,sports centre and library in village, regular buses into Cambridge, in cycling distance of Cambridge) and might be good if you could get a good price - it's now been on the market for (I think) about 14 months, which suggests its wildly overpriced:

www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/full.pl?&vin1&&VIN1000886

Basically, the downsides are that it opens straight onto the pavement, that it's on the main road, and that the front does not look in the least bit posh (it's a couple of C17 cottages put together rather than a farmhouse). It may also have a couple of staircases rather than one.

I also spotted this one - looks lovely, but I can't help suspecting there's probably some hidden disadvantage in the location:
www.cheffins.co.uk/cheffins-property/bourn-road-cambridge-9225

Grendels
Naughty! They both look great. However,at the moment (although things can always change I guess in this environment) it's not looking like I'm going to be able to increase my time working from home. Which isn't great for the house move.

Are you going to the Christmas party???? It has vaguely occurred to me, not sure I'm brave enough though.

Oh, bad luck! I shall definitely stop tempting you then - any other MNers looking for a Cambridgeshire house?

No, no party for me - I've madly signed up for NaNoWriMo, so should be completing the novel then!

Seriously! Your novel will be done!

I am going on a course in April (if I remember to pay on Monday.) Need to work on that making the dream a reality thing.

Done may not be the word, novel may not be the word, but by 31 Nov, 50,000 words will be written, if I die in the attempt. The freezer is full of ready meals and I have cleaned the house from top to bottom so I don't have to clean again for the next month :
www.nanowrimo.org/

We're looking for aplce in Fen Ditton now - live in South Cambridge but dh plays cricket for fen Ditton and i've gone all 'villagey' in my old age - want to stride past the church with a labrador shouting 'dahlings, come on..'

Nanowrimo has started starting, so you can get a free inducement to write that novel! Register for free and then you chat your way to 50,000 words or so in a month!