Housing dilemma

Good luck lucky. I hope you like it and can see the good points.

We're viewing at mid-day - it's tipping with rain so we will see it at its worst, which is probably a good thing!

I think I would go for the bungalow, unfortunately at our age things rarely improve so we need to be practical. I no longer notice traffic noise except when I am at DD's in Brussels, the trams wake me, I think it is because we do not have trams in our town so the sound is alien.
I will not move from my house whatever happens, it is a few hundred yards from a bus stop and half a mile from two supermarkets.

We live in very peaceful, beautiful country side that is about a ten minute drive from town. And I don't drive. However, taxis are reasonable, there are facilities for meals on wheels and emergency services get here very quickly. We won't move whilst there are still two of us and instead are concentrating on making this house easier to manage and as economical as possible.
The thing that I would appreciate most about moving nearer civilisation would be the facility to be able to get out and about on level ground and also as I get older, just being able to see other people going about their daily business and with that, more human contact.

I agree with all the others and hope the viewing goes well. We used to live on a main road and just didn't notice the traffic noise.
My husband used to live on an airfield with helicopters hovering outside his bedroom window and he got used to the noise and it didn't keep him awake.

I have to say that although I think it is quiet apart from birdsong and the occasional tractor here,on Sundays and public holidays it is even quieter, so there is obviously a distant traffic noise that I don't notice at all.

Let us know how your viewing went, lucky

I live in an inner London borough in a leafy road, everyone who comes here comments how quiet and tranquil it is, yet we are a couple of minutes from the South Circular which is constantly busy. There are also 2 railway lines nearby. We can't hear any of it, and neither can anyone else. Hope you like the bungalow.

Hope the viewing went well lucky and there is a connection to the heart as well as the head. For what it's worth. I agree with others, sometimes we have to listen to the head.. A new opportunity?

Well........the weather was really terrible so we definitely did not see it at its best! Great black clouds all around and rain chucking it down..

It is a very spacious bungalow and light and airy - 4 bedrooms, 3 loos! (cloakroom, bathroom and en suite). There is a huge area of curved decking that goes around the back of the bungalow and overlooks the garden, which is not vast and looks manageable. It overlooks a field and a large bank of trees at the end of the field. There is a summer house, which I think the GC would fall for! There is a living room with archway connecting to dining room, which has French doors that open onto one area of decking that faces south west and could be a sun trap I think.

The view is of field, trees, and in one direction distant views of the Black Mountains. The living room and the main bedroom (which is big) look out on these views.

So.......there are pros and cons:

Pros
- it is a bungalow!
- there is a wood nearby for nice walks
- there is a bus stop nearby with a bus every hour (to be reduced soon to every 2 hours we suspect)
- it is nearer for both sets of DDs who live here
- my DD could drop children off on her way to work (instead of me having to drive to get them)
- I could potentially help by picking the children up from school when they start (about 7 minutes away) on DD's work days so again she could pick them up from us in her way home
- it is manageable and low-maintenance.

Cons
- it is not here!!!
- it is pretty "soulless" (unlike here with stone walls, bread ovens etc.) - but I enjoy creative stuff and have huge abstract photo panels that I did that could brighten it up, or I would enjoy making wall hangings etc.
- it is quite exposed, whereas here we are nestled in among the green of the hills
- the kitchen is dark-panelled and tiled and is good-sized but mega-dingy (I would attack it with a paint brush!)
- the traffic noise - this is THE big one for me.

I think that deep down it is about how we fell in love with where we are now and letting go of that is hard. But I do know that we are lucky to be able to be here and to be even thinking of moving to an excellent bungalow. So....lots of thinking to do.

Lucky girl, your heart will always belong in your lovely home but if it's not going to work in the future you have to move on. My dear Dad couldn't bring himself to leave the home he had lived in for almost 40 years and then it was too late, he was too ill and couldn't stay there but wasn't well enough to move somewhere with a downstairs loo. In the end he went into a nursing a home. Sort it while you're still able. By the way, I once lived right next to a train line. At first I couldn't sleep for the noise but gradually I stopped hearing it. When I moved I didn't half miss it though. Good luck and I hope your viewing went well

That bungalow sounds pretty perfect to me and the fact that I could instantly make a decision as I would not need to sell my own house would be the icing on the cake. I hope you realise just how lucky you are and make the right choice for both of you for your future happiness and your circumstances will sway you.

How does your DH feel about it, Luckygirl?

We truly do realise how lucky we are, believe me!

DH has mixed feelings too. His doubts are different from mine and mainly relate to
technology of various sorts. Since we have been here, we turned an existing scruffy part of the house (the second of the two small cottages that were combined to make the house) into a music room - and he turned it into a cinema - there is a roll-down screen and a projector. I know this all sounds very posh, but believe me it isn't - the whole house is pretty scruffy and maybe that is why I like it! Anyway, he is cogitating on how he could reproduce this technology in the bungalow without monopolising the living room! He is not able to get out much because of his PD and these things matter to him lots - they make up for being a bit housebound.

He likes the idea of a home that does not get damp, as in most old stone buildings like ours.

You've probably already considered this but could you not use one or two of the bedrooms for music/cinema and put in sofa beds for visitors instead of just having spare bedrooms?

I can empathise Lucky as I really love our house and can't imagine ever leaving it but DH wants to get the house valued 'just so he knows' in case we want to move.

I would certainly look to using one of the bedrooms as a cinema room/study as Merlot suggests and remember that you can store away your memories of your home and the years you have been there to the back of your mind and bring them out when needed,your hubby's health will not improve in the near future but you can certainly make his health more manageable with a move to this bungalow and life easier for both of you in the long run.

The traffic noise appears, for you, to be the major bugbear. Would it be 24/7 or is there a rush hour there when it would be at its worst? Could you hear the traffic noise when indoors or only when outside?

It is a major plus that you would be close to two of your daughters. Where is the nearest hospital? Would it be doable by taxi if you could not drive? A lot to think about.

Thank you for all your ideas. Having just read the thread about homeless people I feel that my "problems" pale into insignificance!

I would go for it too. If you're lucky enough to have someone buy it so you can rent till you sell it will be much less stress and also means you can take your time moving out of your present lovely home. We currently have our house up for sale we've lived in for 30 years - it will be a huge wrench to leave all the memories here but time to make new ones. Also as has already been pointed out you can use one of the bedrooms as a cinema/hobby room and think of all the fun planning how to brighten up the kitchen Good luck!

Thanks you for all your good wishes and ideas. I am entertaining some friends to Sunday lunch today and they live in the village where the bungalow is, so we will be able to quiz them!

Your head. I do think that to move while you still can is probably the better thing to do. It sounds as if the layout of the bungalow would be much more practical and I think that you would very soon realise how much easier your life it would be living on the level.
I do understand you missing your current house though.

It does sound nice, OP, and I'm sure your skills will soon eliminate the 'soulless' factor.
Re dingy kitchens, it's amazing what a bit of paint can do. Dd's 'new' kitchen had really horrible old dark brown melamine cupboard doors, AND pine panelling in a completely different brown.
It will all go anyway when they do their extension (one day!) but in the meantime they painted both cupboard doors and the panelling off white.
I could not believe the difference - it was astonishing.

Looking back, though, I swear that kitchen was one of the things that had put a lot of other buyers off (it was definitely a 'needs modernising') and enabled them to buy it at all, at a fair bit off the original asking price.

Yes - I have been researching paint for kitchen cupboard fronts and it all looks doable. And a lot cheaper than new fronts.

Got visitors for Sunday lunch and will get our brains into gear on the house subject when I am replete and they have gone!

Can I play devil's advocate please Luckygirl?

I am assuming that you will not be surrounded by houses and flats within the next few years if there is an empty field? Where I live the most improbable places end up with a block of flats- the latest is so close to a railway bridge the noise and shuddering must be horrendous.

An en suite would be heaven for me and 3 loos bliss.

It sounds perfect with your mark added to itand it need not cost a fortune.