Downshifting to canal boat or park home maybe

adouglasmhor

DKLS wrote: »

I could live on one of those dutch barges which are twice the width of our narrow boats it would be too small in a narrowboat for me.

I always wondered why Scottish barges were bigger than English canal boats, We must have been in cahoots with the wooden shoed cheese eaters at some point.

G_M

DKLS wrote: »

I regularly see them much cheaper than the english narrowboats of equivalent length for sale.

Hard to believe assuming they are otherwise comparable (age, condition etc)

Svenena

DKLS wrote: »

I regularly see them much cheaper than the english narrowboats of equivalent length for sale.

The other problem with wide-beam narrow boats is that they won't fit in all locks, so depending which part of the waterway network you're on, they might not be an option, eg if you have to go through a narrow lock to get your water/fuel.

pineapple

Cheers everyone. I don't think the control of the park site owner would suit me. Plus you are not guaranteed they won't sell to someone more difficult. The homes on the site I have in mind - at around £85,000 - aren't cheap. And the ground rent averages at around £100 per month. Plus extras - like if you want to use one of the garages on site

lincroft1710

pineapple wrote: »

The homes on the site I have in mind - at around £85,000 - aren't cheap.

Oh yes they are!

There's a small brand new development near Bedford where the park homes are priced from £180K to £230K.

Slinky

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Oh yes they are!

There's a small brand new development near Bedford where the park homes are priced from £180K to £230K.

Why would anybody pay that? You could buy a house in Bedford for those sorts of prices.

lincroft1710

Slinky wrote: »

Why would anybody pay that? You could buy a house in Bedford for those sorts of prices.

Agreed! 3 bed semis or detached in quite nice areas.

pineapple

Here's one for around £180,000 near Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales.
http://www.wilman-lodge.co.uk/default.aspx?key=property-for-sale-details&propertyid=10722
Quite what it's doing with 'beamed ceilings' beats me!

oystercatcher

My friend and her husband live in a park home, they downsized from a rough council estate in Bedford because they needed a bungalow due to disability. (They still have steps to access though!).

They are very happy with their home but I wouldn't want to live there. The homes are very close together and everyone watches the others and knows all their buisness and discusses it with all the other residents :eek: This does work the other way though in that there is a close community spirit and they do look after each other , well the ones who get on with each other do !!

There are many rules and people are asked to leave if they don't comply, thereby giving the owner another 10% sale profit !

The newer homes on this park are priced at the same price as small houses in this town. I would chose the house !

I think their ground rent is £140 a month for a small plot and for some reason housing benefit will not pay all of this.

pineapple

oystercatcher wrote: »

The homes are very close together and everyone watches the others and knows all their buisness and discusses it with all the other residents :eek: This does work the other way though in that there is a close community spirit and they do look after each other , well the ones who get on with each other do !!

Good point. Plus I would guess that most park home communities have more than the average of retired peeps who are at home more and take more note of what's going on! It's already an issue that bugs me. I live in a teeny rural community of about 20 households. You know who is not speaking to who, whose husband ran off and where to, who drinks like a fish, who just had a hysterectomy, etc etc etc. :eek:
The support is there - as you say - but sometimes I think the negatives outweigh the positives.