I want a nice semi-rural house with gravel and a gate. Where to look?

[CoraMackenzie]

Posted this in Chat but think it's too fast paced for real advice. Hoping to get some good ideas here.

Ok, sold our house in crazy bling land last year (Cheshire) and have been renting down south since then. DH is all over the place with work and often out of the country for a week or two at a time. So, tbh, it doesn't really matter where we are as long as he can get to an international airport within and hour and a half.

I want a house with a big garden, maybe semi-rural with a good school. I want trees and a gravel path with a 5bar gate. Must have 4beds as have 3kids. (I know I want a lot )There must be lots of beautiful parts of the country we haven't even considered before so I'm open to all suggestions.

Max budget 700k, though I'd love to spend less obviously. If you lot can't help, I'm going to have to contact Phil&Kirsty!

[LadyBiscuit]

Here - with gravel and garden, no idea about 5 bar gate but you could put one in.

Or this one has gravel and gate from what I can tell

No mention of gravel or gate here but you could add one

[LadyBiscuit]

Sorry, those all all West Kent/East Sussex borders - beautiful countryside, good schools on the whole, about 45 mins max to Gatwick

[CoraMackenzie]

Hi Ladybiscuit, I love the first one! Not so keen on the beams on the second one. DH would not be happy.

Thanks, I'll def look at it in more detail

[CoraMackenzie]

Great too about the airport commute. I assumed we couldn't afford down there.

[midnightexpress]

I want to live in Kent

[midnightexpress]

Rather more helpfully, Kent/E Sussex is a bit cheaper than the rest of the SE because the commute into town is a bit longer. But if it's more for the airport that's important it would be perfect.

[LadyBiscuit]

Yes it is cheaper down here because the trains are shit slow. But you get more space for your cash :)

[CoraMackenzie]

He does need to get into London but not too often and rarely at peak times. I want to feel settled in a community.

[LadyBiscuit]

You can get into London fairly easily, the trains are just a bit slow is all. My sister commuted for a few years.

Glad to help - any chance to look at property porn :o

[twolittlemonkeys]

Where we are in Leics you can get a lot for that money. There is lots of countryside round about but doesn't take long to get into the city (15 min drive) The fact that the city and countryside are both a stone's throw away is a big plus in my book...

Derbyshire

one acre!

don't know if it has a gate, but you could add one

[jeanjeannie]

How about Bucks...or Berks...both reasonable close to Heathrow. Lots of nice properties especially in the villages nearby the Thames or up near the Ridgeway.

Not trawled Rightmove rigorously... but found this in Bourne End It's just off the Cliveden Estate and is near the Thames.

You could look across the river to Cookham and go for something a bit eccentric like this

Or maybe a tad further into Bucks and slightly more open country in Princes Risborough

As someone who lives in Bucks...I can say that it is £$£ but it's great for commuting. Also good for getting into London and for open space too.
Now you need the low down on the rest of the home counties

[CoraMackenzie]

twolittlemonkeys, I really like the first one and the third. Second looks like a main rd which puts me off. Thanks for those.

[CoraMackenzie]

Thanks Jean but I think in Berks I'm paying for accessibility to London which we probably don't need. The house in Cookham looked lovely though!

[jeanjeannie]

OMG - I've just seen the first two houses twolittlemonkeys posted in Leicester....I want to move there now! Yep Cora...I agree, Berks and Bucks are definately more expensive because of the London links...and no use if you're not going to use it.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

If your DH only travels to Europe and you don't mind a bit of flatness then what about Beds or Cambs - 45 mins to Luton / Stansted - Heathrow is about 1.5 hours for long haul.

DH family is from there and at Christmas we decided we wanted a country life similar to you and found loads of gravel driveways and detached period living for a lot less than Berks.

[CoraMackenzie]

Unfortunately, it's the States he needs to travel to so probably need a bigger airport than Luton.

[teta]

Shropshire.Really nice houses and good local schools.My dh is also overseas for vast amounts of time.Within reasonable access of Birmingham or Manchester.

[CoraMackenzie]

Shropshire has been mentioned a few times. It's now on our list to explore.

[Ingles2]

we're in Kent, about an hour from London on the train, an hours drive from Gatwick.
we've got an rural house with a garden and 5 bar gate and grammar schools at that price.

[Trebuchet]

N E worcestershire, ie Alvechurch and Barnt Green, Weatheroak, lovely rural/semi-rural villages 35-40 min drive to Birmingham International. Gorgeous houses, specially Barnt Green

[CMOTdibbler]

We're in Worcestershire, and house prices are v good, and I can be in Heathrow in under 2 hours (tonight I landed at T3 at 6.20, was through the front door at 8.40), parked, checked in and through security in 45 minutes at Birmingham, plus is v good to get around the UK

[gaelicsheep]

Gravel and a 5 bar gate are overrated.

[Trebuchet]

I would not move away now, love it so much in worcs. Great schools and real sense of community.

[Trebuchet]

CMOT I think I might know you ....!!

[twolittlemonkeys]

They're just the first few that came up - if you put Leicestershire and £500-£700K as your price bracket there are some lovely houses and a lot of the schools are good.