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Original poster

Escape To The Country

47 replies

BringMeTea · 17/03/2015 07:13

I have often wondered why no thread about this show. Anyway. I am inordinately happy when Alistair Appleton is on. He is today. Getting to my point... I noticed they were all in stocking feet and think it's the first time I have seen this. Given the strength of feeling about shoes off on here I am surprised it doesn't happen more often. Alistair's socks were a fetching dark blue.

OP posts:

middleagedbread · 17/03/2015 11:58

These (deluded) couples don't have a scooby about the reality of living in the countryside, with its isolation and having to drive everywhere. Even worse though is the programme where they are looking for a property abroad and can't speak the lingo and don't have plans to learn, let alone the often complex property laws to get to grips with. They should spend a few months renting in the desirable area first, surely?

EmilyAlice · 17/03/2015 12:41

It makes me laugh when they say they will "have a go" at learning the language. Yeah right.
We have lived in rural France for ten years now and we are very glad that we were not tempted by some of the properties we looked at with huge houses and acres of land. We stuck with a manageable veg garden (after years of allotments) and even that is hard work. All our neighbours still tend their plots well in to their nineties and drive around quite happily though.
We watch ETTC the country shouting, "it's too big for you" and "you'll never manage it".
We have seen so many people abandon house, livestock, gite business and "the dream" and go back to the UK, having failed to learn the language and realise that you never actually have time to sit on the terrace and drink rosé.
Stil at least the houses in the UK will be worth something when they need to sell them....

MadeInChorley · 17/03/2015 12:54

Sparkling - yes, exactly. A week in Aussie sunshine looking for "a better life for their kids". She's a nurse, he works in IT. They never emigrate and end up staying in Blackburn after realising they won't be able to afford a beach front house with pool with £175k.

This thread has made me all misty eyed for my months of breastfeeding in front of day time telly.

mateysmum · 17/03/2015 14:58

The programme that has given me most opportunties to yell at the screen recently has been " wanted in paradise". It roughly translates as " I'm a bit bored with my job so I'm going to uproot my family and move to a one town island in the Caribbean, without regard to my kids education or whether I can earn a living'.

For Christ's sake , just get another job in the UK and move to the country, there is a lot of options in between Milton Keynes and Mauritius!

EmilyAlice · 17/03/2015 15:17

"i do need a snooker room..."

ssd · 17/03/2015 15:22

this couple have a healthy 1Million budget

thats not a healthy budget, it s a lottery win

Lilymaid · 17/03/2015 15:45

Having reached the ripe old age of 60 I would like to Escape to the Town from my large village so that I won't have the 10 miles drive to U3A, day time cinema viewings etc. etc. No intention of keeping goats, growing my own kale, basket weaving etc.

MadeInChorley · 17/03/2015 15:45

I always like it when the participants walk to the end of the mahoosive garden, with birds tweeting gently. They then cup their ears, crane their necks and then sigh sadly, shake their heads and reject the house because of "road noise".

Sandancer · 17/03/2015 17:37

"I want a small kitchen" said no one, ever.

middleagedbread · 17/03/2015 22:00

I love my small kitchen, sandancer, I can cook a meal, fetch stuff from fridge, put crockery and cutlery away, wash dishes, make a cuppa, all without moving more than one step . takes seconds to wipe down surfaces too

middleagedbread · 17/03/2015 22:06

I do so love the property porn threads that start on mn regularly; those gorgeous mahoosive properties, sigh. All I can think of is the time it would take to keep them clean (five bathrooms! acres of carpet\flooring to hoover )

Laureline · 17/03/2015 22:24

I love watching ETTC too - scoffing at people who want to move somewhere remote, open a dog grooming business and raise goats!

By the way, couples often seem to complain about the size of the master bedroom. Am I the only one who wonders why people would need such huge bedrooms? Once I'm up and dressed, that's it, I don't hang around in my bedroom...

bberry · 17/03/2015 22:51

You can have staff... Cleaner/housekeeper/gardener etc.....

That's how to keep a big house/grounds and sip wine on the terrace!

MadeInChorley · 18/03/2015 11:43

The OP mentioned her fondness for Alistair Appleton. He's so foppish and wet and Brideshead. And he's gay anyway, so you're out of luck ladies. Not bad looking, I'll grant you, but so dull. I'd rather have Aled.

Sparklingbrook · 18/03/2015 11:47

Ooh yes, Aled for me. All day long.

Original poster

BringMeTea · 18/03/2015 12:25

Well. He is the only gay man I have ever found attractive. He is just so zen and has dimples to die for.
Anyway, there was a couple who did buy AND set up some lovely cabins in their very pretty wood. Sadly I cannot remember where as I would like to link because they had made such a success of it.
Oh and Aled is all yours.

OP posts:

zukiecat · 18/03/2015 13:00

Laureline

I wonder that too about the mahoosive bedrooms.

What are they doing in there, that they need such big bedrooms for?

Or maybe I don't really want to know the answer to that!

MadeInChorley · 18/03/2015 14:12

Just had a look at AA on wikipedia. It says he's a practicing Buddhist so no wonder he is zen. Also says he's founding chairman of The Shoreditch Morris Dancing Society. Methinks someone's been messing with his biographical details.

EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard · 19/03/2015 13:13

Oh no to Aled. He's the sort you'd want for a decent next door neighbour.
Alastair makes me cringe every time he says ON SWIT

I like Jules and his impeccably laundered shirts and have a big soft spot for Jonnie, just not in that way. Am not too keen on Denise with her on-off hair extensions and year round long boots or Nicky.

I have an enormous bedroom but it has an enormous bed in it and enormous furniture, so overall it doesn't leave much more floor space than any other bedrooms. I'm dreading when we come to downsize because I basically want exactly the house we have, just less rooms.

EmilyAlice · 19/03/2015 15:23

Ooo they want to clean lavvies...
We hate Nicky so much that we watch it with subtitles so we don't have to listen to her.

mateysmum · 19/03/2015 19:47

Just watching today's episode and the second house we viewed in 2012 ie. over 2 years ago!! and didn't like - especially when a couple of weeks later the flood water was lapping at the bottom of the drive! I think it has sold now, but the kitchen was pokey and it was all a bit dark. They also talk about it being near a picturesque village - it's actually much nearer a busy main road and a town!

wideboy26 · 19/03/2015 21:44

They never seem to buy any of the properties they are shown, so the presenter attempts to justify the programme by concluding that the properties viewed have helped Mr and Mrs Boring to establish what they are looking for. They could have done that by watching videos of available properties rather than trailing round in a charade, pretending that each visit might result in a sale. If I had, say, a £million to spend on a move, I'd want to view considerably more than 3 properties. The programme seems to be little more than a chance to nosey round others' houses from the comfort of your own armchair. Sometimes the apparent rapport between the presenter and Mr and Mrs Boring is toe-curlingly awkward, helped along by gales of forced laughter - Denise Nurse in particular.

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