Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Alexelisey wrote: »

Well you were the one complaining you were impatient, it's no good going all :eek: now :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

So glad you've done pretty much everything while you had the time, Rummer. This way it's a bit of a shock, but not a panic-inducing one :j

Very wet here again, my DH is suffering quite a lot with his arthritis and we're trying to work out how quickly we can get him some relief by going away somewhere warm and dry. Mind you, he might have to go by himself as I am a bit brassic

good job you didn't go abroad to live... as it sounds as though it would not have worked out for you anyway... the only way it would work, is if you put your property into auction.. and then rent until you decide what exactly what you want...and what you are capable of doing... especially now you are saying your OH has bad arthritis ... Might be worth you trying an allotment for a few years... and maybe going to a riding stable/centre and going on treks etc..


I am so glad we took on board all the advice on here to a certain extent... especially Davesnave saying its not about the amount of land... its what you can do/achieve in about an acre. etc..


The one thing I do regret is not following and actually listening to his posts about..its all well and good having the money/be able to afford to buy a place, its also about having the money to do it up and maintain it etc. BUT in my defence with the money we had. whether saved, loaned, borrowed etc we would not have been able to buy anything better... our price bracket, which was the extreme low end of the price range.. would have been the only type of property we would have been able to buy, regardless of when we bought...as there is no way in a million years we could have bought a half decent property for at least double what we paid for ours...


If I could change anything about the place... it would be the location and the footpath.. BUT this is one of the reasons it was as cheap as it was...

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I am so glad we took on board all the advice on here to a certain extent... especially Davesnave saying its not about the amount of land... its what you can do/achieve in about an acre. etc..
If it's veggies etc and some chooks people want, I'd still hold to that. It was also partly about the way property prices increase if there is an ability to keep a pony, making a house with 1.5 acres + relatively expensive.

In the light of experience, I'd give much more attention to woodland, or even areas of scrub. These have the potential to earn their keep as sources of fuel, and they don't need to be high maintenance. The type of woodland is important though. For example, we looked at an acre near here, but the trees were all full grown and too large for a chap like me to maintain or fell. They also overhung a road. :eek:
The one thing I do regret is not following and actually listening to his posts about..its all well and good having the money/be able to afford to buy a place, its also about having the money to do it up and maintain it etc.
Yeah, I wish I'd listened to that too! :rotfl:

We were pretty vague regarding what could be done with this house, but it was a modern box, so we didn't envisage problems. It would be possible to do it up for about £50k, but that would leave some fairly unsatisfactory compromises from our POV. So, we'll probably spend more than is needed to just make it tidy, modern, well heated and watertight.

If I could change anything about the place... it would be the location and the footpath.. BUT this is one of the reasons it was as cheap as it was...

Yes, I saw there would be issues there, but there are always compromises and you did get a lot of house, albeit one that needed a lot of work.

The thing about a footpath is that it defines where people ought to go, whereas if you have land on the edge of a semi-urban area, people are likely to treat any open space as fair game. In time, hedges may be grown along your footpath, keeping people in their place and giving you important privacy.

While people passing through can be a pain, they are also a deterrent to some sorts of crime. I find a few of the neighbours in the barn conversions here a pain in the bum, for reasons we needn't go into, but whether they are responsible folks or not, all of them have eyes, and this reduces the likelihood of opportunist crime.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

The footpath is a double edge sword really...


As you say Davesnave, now we have learned.. some people think they have the right to the whole land by the footpath to walk on, and leave their dogs run a muck across, some are just a pain in the butt, while others are genuinely nice and respect that it is your land..and hopefully these people might be potential customers for eggs and any other surplus plants, veg etc..


I think once all house work is done etc.. we might look at the footpath and our entrance to see if we can literly make the footpath into a fenced walkway..BUT then would we alienate the nice people from buying from us?????


We have noticed since the gate has gone up to stop people using our land as a turning point... there are less people walking/using the lane... where its because now that there is more activity with the land etc.. they feel awkward walking passed us when we are there etc, who knows, BUT maybe when we are living up there proper, then there might be even less people walking passed...

lostinrates

CTC, those people are customers, embrace them. Never be outside your front door without a smile. Never met a complaint with out a concerned understanding face over your resolve not to give it, and get a reputation as those charming people. Make sure your boys get a reputation as nice kids, and it will all help with selling the pork, the eggs etc.

The foot path is your shop window......dress it well.

Rummer

CTC can you not have a compromise? Hedge off the path but have an opening where a table could go? Then you get peace and quiet with a small shop front

lostinrates

Rummer wrote: »

CTC can you not have a compromise? Hedge off the path but have an opening where a table could go? Then you get peace and quiet with a small shop front

Best thing to do.



Incidentally. I have noticed a strange thing about fencing things off.


If I see big solid gates I'm always curious to know what is behind them, if I see decorative semi shielding gates I look at the gates to admire them.

We've applied that here. In the big solid gates we've put up are WELL inside our boundary, in side our first open yard. In front of that, road side will one day be more open gates, that only partially screen things. That way people will feel they have had an exciting peek in,,,,,,,to what is in effect our drive way. We get privacy, they get pleasure. Everybody will hopefully be happy. .

Davesnave

I know many footpaths between hedges. There's one in the little town which goes right into the golf course. At the other side of the course is another path between walls which leads out (or in!) again.

So the golf course owners have people wandering through using the RoW any time of the day or night. It seems not to be any great problem. If it was, I'm sure they'd erect a few signs saying where the path goes . There's nothing. I know this because it took me quite a while to find my way out!:rotfl:

There's a fairly well-known garden down Dartmoor way which charges around £4.50 admission. People probably don't know that they can get in free, using a footpath from the village. Even if they did, most would be too lazy to use it!

Thoughtless neighbours are everywhere. Here, one of our problems is rubbish not being put out at the right time, or placed in such flimsy bags that they break, leaving rubbish outside our gate. It's a constant battle. This morning my first duty was to wander down the road and pick up various bits of other people's Christmas. It was less than a carrier bag full, which wasn't bad, considering there were over 30 sacks out there at 7am.

That's something else I've learned. Only about 6 of the 15 families using the lane actually do any recycling. The rest just chuck everything, because it's too much hassle to separate rubbish and put out two things for collection. :mad:

I_have_spoken

Unexpectedly, geranium has kept in flower until 31 Dec. A few brewskis kept for Hogmanay...

lostinrates

Geraniums are brilliant in the house over winter.

Mine get carted in the house usually before frosts, sometimes afterwards (oooops) then flower much of winter on window sils before being chucked out again. I really think they are tremendously underrated, easy, forgiving, can be chips caked out in summer, left while you go on holiday....

COOLTRIKERCHICK

LIR.. you are sooooo right... the footpath should be our 'shop front' at mo its more like a, well a waste bit of land at mo...


I have visions, of people walking the path along side our garden, ( which has hazelnut trees etc as a fence) and when they nose through they will see a lovely veg garden, with wigwams of runner beans and swwet peas, and a proper washing line with my welsh blankets and vintage handmade quilts airing on the line...I want it to be a vision, like peeping back in time... as they pass... except there will be AC/DC or whitesnake playing on my CD player...lol...


This is what I would like my bedroom to be like, so if you translate this to a garden image of the same sort of feeling if that makes sense