Wow thanks for all of the responses so far - I wasn't sure if there would be much interest in this. I'll try to reply back to each of you.
pansyface - thanks for your input and I'm sorry to hear that you found your circumstances changed and that your husband has been ill. We are kind of 'young' - well not too far from being mid-30s however I can completely appreciate what you're saying. I feel this would be something amazing to do while we're younger and I know for my partner it would diminish his stress. Where we live now is one of the better areas of the town we're in and we're then in quite a good set up where it's not too noisy, so we're lucky with that in mind. If it was up to my partner he would be in a log cabin in the middle of some woods completely off the grid lol. I would probably prefer a little more closeness to society.
philippa smith2 - thanks for your input and I think being realistic we do appreciate that is most likely to be the case, especially as we're not that well off for money. It is definitely pretty built up already in this area and new houses tend to be much smaller when they're built now. Again we're lucky as ours is a 50s built ex council house so it is pretty spacious (compared to others). The area we're in is not considered to be that great so we could afford the price of it - which was not much more than we sold our flat for in the neighbouring county. Thanks for the tips on leasing land (with a view to buy etc), rural estate agents, and the farming and smallholding publications - again all things we hadn't thought of.
Pete8 - thanks for your reply. That is a great idea about google earth. I've used street view to check out houses for sale before, but haven't then gone on to explore the area so will definitely keep that in mind. I always imagined Kent to be expensive but will have a check on prices.
nutcutlet - thanks for your reply. lol on the broadband - actually that would be a huge consideration as my partner is very much a techy person. He always says he could cope completely off the grid but I'm not so sure when it comes to a fast enough broadband connection. Wow it sounds like you have worked so hard over the years. I think 2 acres would probably be the ideal for us - not that I can ever picture it, but I know on a tv programme recently a garden was shown to be 3 acres and I thought it was absolutely huge.
Dovefromabove - thanks again and I will keep an eye out for that kind of thing. Stupidly it's not something we've considered recently, despite seeing it done many times on programmes like Grand Designs. We've (well my partner mainly) read up on planning laws when buying land and it is such a web of rules. It does make complete sense to perhaps find somewhere that could be demolished and rebuilt in the same space. We're definitely not fussed about a large house.
Jinxy - thanks for your reply. I am very envious! We are very lucky we're even on the property ladder as a lot of people our age, and our siblings aren't even close. I think now everyone is having to save for years before getting a deposit together in this area. At the same time rent has gone up loads too.
aym280 - thanks for your reply. My grandad (in his 90s) was living in Suffolk until 6 months ago. They retired there, despite no family being nearby. I think it must have been an up and coming retirement place at the time. Unfortunately his health has deteriorated over the last few years and he is now in a care home close to my two aunts, and closer for us to visit more often. But he spent years on his own in his bungalow once his dog passed away. He had a neighbour pop in once a day with her 2 dogs, but the rest of the time he was alone. So it has worked out well now that he's closer to the family.
Busy-Lizzie - thanks for your reply and you certainly must be very busy. It must be great having so much woodland around that you also own. For now we definitely want to remain in the local area, but I guess that may change as we get a bit older.
philippa smith2 - thanks again. Yes for now we want to be near our families as we've got our parents and nieces and nephews etc. I can certainly see the temptation of moving elsewhere though - but I don't think we'd cope with hardly seeing everyone at the moment.
Thanks again for all of the replies everyone, it's certainly given us lots of new tips and ideas to think about.
I've read through all of this thread. Lucid: you are young enough to make a success of moving to a new, if distant area. The internet is marvelous for keeping in touch with far away family. You will make a life and friends wherever you decide to go. I had the same dream as you.....in the 70s.... a long time ago. My advice would be DO IT. You will have to be prepared to work hard and not have much money for any luxuries and perhaps living in a dump for the years it takes to do it up but you will learn to make do. Rural hardship is not anything like as bad as urban hardship. Your kids, if you have any will probably be the 'poor kids' at school, which admittedly is a downside, but there are so many compensations. You'll live in an environment you love and can make your own with few neighbours to distract you. Go for it.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
philippa smith2 - no definitely not doom and gloom at all. I'd actually put in my earlier reply (although I had to repost part of it as it was too long I think and forgot to put back in) that we are very pleased with our current project of creating the garden from scratch and making it wildlife friendly. We are definitely lucky to have what we've got.
Redwing - thanks for your message. We will have to see but it would feel like such an achievement if we found we could do it. I'm still unsure about moving far enough away that we'd have to keep in touch online - I don't know if my mum would forgive me lol.
aym280 - yes we definitely don't want to look back and regret anything. We've been having a quick look at current houses for sale nearby and there's not really anything that we would consider as making as any better off. In fact with a lot of them you're paying a lot extra for the fact that it's a detached house, but the rooms and gardens are smaller than ours. Plus they're detached with neighbours right next to you.
Jinxy - thanks so much and you're absolutely right. I've been thinking that way with my music making lately. Since my dad passed away several years ago I got in to a bad way of not practising. Then more recently I started to feel like I wanted to try to make big changes so have started getting more serious again with my practice. I'm sure it will never get me anywhere career wise as the music world is highly competitive, but if I've tried my best I'll at least know I did all I could to improve myself and it'd make it easier to take than if I didn't bother (which is what I have been doing over the last few years).
If we ever get anywhere with our plans I'll report back here!
Good luck with your search - I agree that it's quite a challenge now in the UK property market to find anything with land which isn't going to cost a fortune, no matter the condition of the property, but keep looking and if you're persistent and flexible you will hopefully find something to create your dream on
As an aside, I was at a village function last night and got chatting to the lady of the local ancestral 'big house'. 'Oh, you live at that cottage? Does it just have that little bit of lawn you can see at the front?' Talk about crestfallen - I thought my garden was quite large! I guess it's all relative, when it comes from someone who has hundreds of acres at their disposal...
Hello, Lucid. I had the same dream as you when I was in my thirties and I damn well got most of it! And most is the key word. We don't have isolation, we are on the edge of a village but we look out on downland, front and back. We don't have two acres, more like three quarters of one but it uses up all my spare time, any more could become a burden rather than a pleasure. We have both had to work hard to pay for it and that limits your free time. It isn't a small manor house - my lifelong fantasy, it's the end of a short terrace of working men's cottages and it is small and modest. So how can I call it the same dream? I had to cut my coat to suit my cloth: it's better to compromise than to get nothing. I love my little house and my pretty garden and now I am older, I am glad there are people near should we need help. The broadband has just been upgraded too! Good luck - go for it!
Posts
Wow thanks for all of the responses so far - I wasn't sure if there would be much interest in this. I'll try to reply back to each of you.
pansyface - thanks for your input and I'm sorry to hear that you found your circumstances changed and that your husband has been ill. We are kind of 'young' - well not too far from being mid-30s however I can completely appreciate what you're saying. I feel this would be something amazing to do while we're younger and I know for my partner it would diminish his stress. Where we live now is one of the better areas of the town we're in and we're then in quite a good set up where it's not too noisy, so we're lucky with that in mind. If it was up to my partner he would be in a log cabin in the middle of some woods completely off the grid lol. I would probably prefer a little more closeness to society.
philippa smith2 - thanks for your input and I think being realistic we do appreciate that is most likely to be the case, especially as we're not that well off for money. It is definitely pretty built up already in this area and new houses tend to be much smaller when they're built now. Again we're lucky as ours is a 50s built ex council house so it is pretty spacious (compared to others). The area we're in is not considered to be that great so we could afford the price of it - which was not much more than we sold our flat for in the neighbouring county. Thanks for the tips on leasing land (with a view to buy etc), rural estate agents, and the farming and smallholding publications - again all things we hadn't thought of.
Pete8 - thanks for your reply. That is a great idea about google earth. I've used street view to check out houses for sale before, but haven't then gone on to explore the area so will definitely keep that in mind. I always imagined Kent to be expensive but will have a check on prices.
nutcutlet - thanks for your reply. lol on the broadband - actually that would be a huge consideration as my partner is very much a techy person. He always says he could cope completely off the grid but I'm not so sure when it comes to a fast enough broadband connection.
Wow it sounds like you have worked so hard over the years. I think 2 acres would probably be the ideal for us - not that I can ever picture it, but I know on a tv programme recently a garden was shown to be 3 acres and I thought it was absolutely huge.
Dovefromabove - thanks again and I will keep an eye out for that kind of thing. Stupidly it's not something we've considered recently, despite seeing it done many times on programmes like Grand Designs. We've (well my partner mainly) read up on planning laws when buying land and it is such a web of rules. It does make complete sense to perhaps find somewhere that could be demolished and rebuilt in the same space. We're definitely not fussed about a large house.
Jinxy - thanks for your reply. I am very envious! We are very lucky we're even on the property ladder as a lot of people our age, and our siblings aren't even close. I think now everyone is having to save for years before getting a deposit together in this area. At the same time rent has gone up loads too.
aym280 - thanks for your reply. My grandad (in his 90s) was living in Suffolk until 6 months ago. They retired there, despite no family being nearby. I think it must have been an up and coming retirement place at the time. Unfortunately his health has deteriorated over the last few years and he is now in a care home close to my two aunts, and closer for us to visit more often. But he spent years on his own in his bungalow once his dog passed away. He had a neighbour pop in once a day with her 2 dogs, but the rest of the time he was alone. So it has worked out well now that he's closer to the family.
Busy-Lizzie - thanks for your reply and you certainly must be very busy. It must be great having so much woodland around that you also own. For now we definitely want to remain in the local area, but I guess that may change as we get a bit older.
philippa smith2 - thanks again. Yes for now we want to be near our families as we've got our parents and nieces and nephews etc. I can certainly see the temptation of moving elsewhere though - but I don't think we'd cope with hardly seeing everyone at the moment.
Thanks again for all of the replies everyone, it's certainly given us lots of new tips and ideas to think about.
Lucid
I've read through all of this thread. Lucid: you are young enough to make a success of moving to a new, if distant area. The internet is marvelous for keeping in touch with far away family. You will make a life and friends wherever you decide to go. I had the same dream as you.....in the 70s.... a long time ago. My advice would be DO IT. You will have to be prepared to work hard and not have much money for any luxuries and perhaps living in a dump for the years it takes to do it up but you will learn to make do. Rural hardship is not anything like as bad as urban hardship. Your kids, if you have any will probably be the 'poor kids' at school, which admittedly is a downside, but there are so many compensations. You'll live in an environment you love and can make your own with few neighbours to distract you. Go for it.
I don't know for sure but I suspect isolated = c**p broadband.
Re. broadband Dyers End - not necessarily. I have a friend who is on a field trip in Mongolia and we converse very well online
Lucid - life's not a practice run through - regret what you've done - not what you haven't. Quality of life is what it's all about
philippa smith2 - no definitely not doom and gloom at all. I'd actually put in my earlier reply (although I had to repost part of it as it was too long I think and forgot to put back in) that we are very pleased with our current project of creating the garden from scratch and making it wildlife friendly. We are definitely lucky to have what we've got.
Redwing - thanks for your message. We will have to see but it would feel like such an achievement if we found we could do it. I'm still unsure about moving far enough away that we'd have to keep in touch online - I don't know if my mum would forgive me lol.
aym280 - yes we definitely don't want to look back and regret anything. We've been having a quick look at current houses for sale nearby and there's not really anything that we would consider as making as any better off. In fact with a lot of them you're paying a lot extra for the fact that it's a detached house, but the rooms and gardens are smaller than ours. Plus they're detached with neighbours right next to you.
Jinxy - thanks so much and you're absolutely right. I've been thinking that way with my music making lately. Since my dad passed away several years ago I got in to a bad way of not practising. Then more recently I started to feel like I wanted to try to make big changes so have started getting more serious again with my practice. I'm sure it will never get me anywhere career wise as the music world is highly competitive, but if I've tried my best I'll at least know I did all I could to improve myself and it'd make it easier to take than if I didn't bother (which is what I have been doing over the last few years).
If we ever get anywhere with our plans I'll report back here!
Lucid
Here's one http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/40048651?utm_source=trov&utm_medium=feeds&utm_campaign=pricemod&trv_cid=c6bf30ce1158c63a9bc43a22d02a01d563eaa348&utm_source=Trovit&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=premium#veVqXmY9qYI9vWRt.97
with half an acre - but for goodness sake get a structural survey done before you commit yourself!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
And another
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/40100575?utm_source=trov&utm_medium=feeds&trv_cid=d0c3dde92a956c77ba98ce91392b6879b595c16f&utm_source=Trovit&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=premium#Ti2xmyLcOpqPihjh.97
such a pretty place full of potential - but same caveat - get a structural survey.
You'll also need a builder you trust to tell you roughly how much you're going to have to spend to make it as you want it.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Good luck with your search - I agree that it's quite a challenge now in the UK property market to find anything with land which isn't going to cost a fortune, no matter the condition of the property, but keep looking and if you're persistent and flexible you will hopefully find something to create your dream on
As an aside, I was at a village function last night and got chatting to the lady of the local ancestral 'big house'. 'Oh, you live at that cottage? Does it just have that little bit of lawn you can see at the front?' Talk about crestfallen - I thought my garden was quite large! I guess it's all relative, when it comes from someone who has hundreds of acres at their disposal...
Hello, Lucid. I had the same dream as you when I was in my thirties and I damn well got most of it! And most is the key word. We don't have isolation, we are on the edge of a village but we look out on downland, front and back. We don't have two acres, more like three quarters of one but it uses up all my spare time, any more could become a burden rather than a pleasure. We have both had to work hard to pay for it and that limits your free time. It isn't a small manor house - my lifelong fantasy, it's the end of a short terrace of working men's cottages and it is small and modest. So how can I call it the same dream? I had to cut my coat to suit my cloth: it's better to compromise than to get nothing. I love my little house and my pretty garden and now I am older, I am glad there are people near should we need help. The broadband has just been upgraded too! Good luck - go for it!