EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

EssexHebridean

So much of it is down to the feeling of a place I think. Where we are now, we viewed two places on the same day - the first being essentially an exact copy of the one we eventually bought, yet there was something about it that we just didn't like, to the extent that we nearly cancelled the viewing for the second one on the basis that it wouldn't be worth it. We purely went through with it as it felt rude to cancel, and as soon as we walked in the place felt completely different. No logic to it at al!

We've found something similar with places we've stayed in the Hebrides too - when we've stayed in buildings that were originally built as, and have only ever been used as, holiday lets, they've always felt soulless to us - whereas places that were originally family homes have a very different vibe to them. The two places we stay regularly now were both rebuilt from a very poor state - almost derelict - to be holiday lets but they still have that "personality" from previous, somehow. 

Having grown up in a Victorian Terrace, and subsequently lived in a flat within another Victorian building, briefly in a flat in an old Victorian mansion block, and then for a few years in a 1930's built timber framed "quirky" place (now THAT was damp!) where we are now is by quite a few years the most "modern" I've lived in - but it does have the downside of being constructed in what was at the time a largely experimental building process. On the flip side it doesn't lose heat anything like as badly as you might expect, so that's something!

savingholmes

Mine is 20 years old so much bigger than the current new builds at £100k more.

I think houses have an aura from the people who live in them ..

Scottiedog_3

savingholmes said:

I think houses have an aura from the people who live in them ..

I believe that too. We once lived in a lovely Victorian house which had a really welcoming atmosphere. The lawyer gave us copies of all the paperwork relating to the house, going back to the 1880s, so I was able to research the original family and even find where they were buried in the local graveyard. It was the happiest house I have ever lived in. The house where I live now is the exact opposite. I keep getting mail for dead people.

EssexHebridean

My current job involves dealing with legal paperwork around house purchases and I often get the chance to look at some of the old documents which I find fascinating. It's a shame a lot of lawyers won't now pass them on to the new purchasers of a house as they are seen as irrelevant. I completely agree with both of you that a house's history can make the different between it being  home, or just somewhere you live. Mail for dead people does sound a bit grim though!

So - so far today then:
Today's Update:
Prolific: £19.47 paid/£1.63 pending (They need to pull their fingers out!)
OnePoll: 730
NSD's: 15/18
Electricity overnight: £1.55 (2 NSH's - both now turned up a little - hot water, WM, dehumidifier) This is after tweaking the monitor settings again - hopefully they are now about right.

A slightly scenic route on my cycle this morning again so just over 4.5 miles. I'll be taking the bike back to the car when I finish work tonight so that will be another couple of miles but I won't do any extra in the dark. Did discover when I got to the office that my kickstand has worked really loose so I've tightened it as far as I could by hand and need to find an allan key of the right size to finish the job tonight. 

Nearly ended up not going to the gym last night as I got onto the motorway then discovered it was closed at the next junction up....settled in for a long wait but thankfully it was a temporary closure and the traffic then freed up quite quickly so I got there right on the limit of my "is it still worth it" time. Annoyingly I then encountered a problem with resuming my Hussle pass. The lovely gym manager kindly let me in anyway on a manual sign-in so I didn't have a wasted trip, and I have emailed Hussle this morning to try to get it sorted out ahead of Friday when I want to go next

Only thing really planned today (apart from the usual work stuff) is to try to get at least one item ticked off my "small things" list - it' slipped this week because of limited time but there are a couple of easy wins there so I'll aim for one of those. I also need to carry on working through the rugby photos from Friday night - I'm absolutely delighted with how well they have come out in spite of having pushed the camera to absolutely its limits in terms of ISO settings - I've never shot anything with it right at the top of its range before - and although if looked at in detail they show clear signs of "digital noise", just as standard "web friendly" sized pics they are pretty decent. Great to know quite how far I can push things if I need to, on that camera at least. 

Food is all fitting in to the meal plan although tonight and tomorrow are switching thanks to an under-ripe avocado - that is now in a paper bag with a ripe banana and will hopefully be "guacamoleable" by tomorrow! Tonight will now be liver and onions with mixed root mash & veg - proper cold weather food, that!  I did the banana trip with the avocados I wanted for last night (we got 6 of them in the veg box this week!) and they ripened up a treat and were delicious last night as part of a huge plateful of tuna salad.

RosaBernicia

House auras is an interesting one.  When I first viewed my current one it felt terribly sad and depressing, I literally told a friend it met all my criteria on paper but I didn't want it.  I reconsidered because I liked the area and came for a second viewing, which because I was prepared for it felt different and I thought I could make the changes it needed.  It turned out the house does have a traumatic history, but I think the atmosphere has already changed, and friends have confirmed it.  It will feel more and more different as the bodgery gets remedied (eyeroll to infinity) and I get it sorted the way I want it.  Of course, it has quite possibly had decades of happy people living here (come to think of it, I've met a previous owner who said that) so perhaps that balances out the recent history. 

MrsPorridge

I love avocado!

RelievedSheff

savingholmes said:

Mine is 20 years old so much bigger than the current new builds at £100k more.

I think houses have an aura from the people who live in them ..

l would like to think we are making our house a happy home. We are the first people to live in it so it doesn't have any history, we are making it now.

milann

I definitely believe that buildings  have a ‘feeling’ I’ve picked both of the homes I’ve lived in through the feel as much as the building. I also believe it for schools. The ones I’ve worked in and sent my children to have also been chosen by the atmosphere rather than OFSTED reports.

EssexHebridean

I certainly think you can alter the vibe of a house as Rosa says, or indeed give it a personality if it didn't already have one (as in your case RS). Milann, years ago (too many!) when my parents were looking at secondary school options for me there were two options - the girls school which had a good reputation, and the (effectively) local Comp, which undoubtedly didn't. Dad and I went for the visits to both, and I hated the feel of the former, but loved the latter, and that was where I ended up going as Mum & dad both agree that if I started out unhappy I was unlikely to do well regardless. In the two years I was at the Comp, the pupils worked like made to change the reputation and it ended up a happy as well as far more respected place by the time I came to leave. I don't think I'd have done any better at the Girls school in spite of it's reputation for getting far better results. 

It's COLD today. I've been out for a walk at lunchtime and think I need to look out a cheap warm coat to bring into the office - I've got a jacket here but it's really a spring/autumn weight one, and my only "spare" at home now I wear a fair amount to save my posh down-filled one from being worn too much. Might need to have a look at the charity shops, maybe. My watch reckons it's 7 degrees but it feels colder. I have my cycling jacket here but that's literally just a tin, waterproof, reflective layer, not in the least warm as I don't want anything warm when I'm cycling or I'll overheat! 

greenbee

It's been cold here too - I had half a day off and had planned to spend it in the garden, so the hard frost first thing wasn't very appealing! I did eventually get out there and do 2 of the three garden jobs (sort out the compost area, scrub 2 bits of garden furniture that need to go into the garage soon - I didn't get the leaves off the patio, but I did empty the dead chilli/pepper plants out of the greenhouse into the compost). My other little jobs have been to get the bolts and chain on the front door, and repainting behind the cooker where I don't yet have a splashback... 

As tomorrow is thanksgiving most of my colleagues will be out, which should mean I'll get work done. And possibly get the back door primed (inside) and another hour or so in the garden, seeing as no one will be looking!