What are you all up to

The thought of moving horrifies me, especially as it would require a major de-cluttering exercise!

Couldn't agree more. We looked into downsizing a couple of years ago and moving into one of the retirement villages. Apart from decluttering we thought the expense of moving and the maintenance costs of these place high and decided we were better off staying where we are and paying for help if we ever need it.

peedee

Our last ‘build on’ was another bedroom and en-suite the other side of the house, now when we have visitors we are sleeping away through two doors. (Handy when the whole family is here) Also added a downstairs loo but it had to be a saniflow, not ideal but ok for the last 8 years.🤞 OH talked about a bungalow but I’m really not keen, get my exercise going up and down, and here they are pricey for little space. Should the worst happen we could use our dining room as a bedroom as room in the lounge for table and chairs. Our young neighbours have been here 14 years and are lovely, one little, long awaited, daughter. Once when we had to call an ambulance for our granddaughter he came in the next morning to check we were ok as he thought it was for us. Always a problem if they move though but guess that could happen anywhere. The neighbours behind can be noisy, owls screeching, birds singing and I won’t even mention the flipping woodpecker banging 😂 

Absolutely agree....  we've been here 45 years.  Don't see the point of moving locally.... too much stuff to get rid of, plus the central location works well..... with one daughter living in the Outer Hebrides, one daughter moving from Devizes to Exeter in a couple of weeks, and our son living here in the village + other 'commitments'/ friends/ family etc.... 🙂

David

Our Son and Daughter thought it was a good idea for us to move and encouraged it. Not so our grandchildren, who were mortified. There were cries of,’ but we’ve always come here, it’s where we were little, it won’t be the same’. When I tried to reassure them they said, ‘ but it won’t smell the same!’ I really hope that was a complement !!!

I would like to move but OH doesn’t, so for the last few years it’s been stalemate!  We, sorry I, want to move further south to be nearer family, not too close but nearer.  We couldn’t afford Hertfordshire!  Yes, it would be a downsizing and, from what bungalows I’ve seen, a downgrading too.  We are lucky enough to have a modern 4 bed on a nice gated estate and it seems bungalows, nice ones, seem as rare as hens teeth!  Our dream was to move back to Yorkshire when we retired which meant seeing a bit less of family but they agreed it would be good for holidays and the grandchildren often came to stay (previously) during holidays etc,  As they have grown and got friends and clubs in their own place, the last thing they want is spending time up here with grandparents!  Understandable as I was the same at their age.  Best laid plans!!!  We may look again later this year, who knows.  It looks like a trip to family in Macau may be on the cards again in April.  

Had a sprinkling of snow here this morning but nearly all gone and now light rain but still cool upto 4C possibly today so inside chores only.

When we moved here we had a major de-clutter with 3 skips and everytime stuff was put in it our neighbour behind us used to come up and have sort through his wife not keen as at that time he had 5 sheds in the garden, we did sell a few things and do not want to move again as OH has more stuff in his 2 sheds now than we had in Somerset ha ha.

Good luck with looking at properties TG and enjoy your holiday.

A lot to consider for us if we moved house. It would only happen if we moved to another geographic area, and we would need to check out hospitals more than anything else, we have excellent ones within 10 miles, and boy have we needed them this last seven years. We have a lovely big semi, mid Victorian, big garden, plenty of parking, excellent neighbours, and have it more or less how we want it. Rather than move, I think we might add on a downstairs bathroom, and a nice conservatory. Our transport links are very good, road and rail, and despite being large, our Council Tax rates are the same band as when we moved in 40 years ago this coming March. Plenty of lovely walks, places to visit, eateries, etc….. nearby house as well. 
We almost made the jump when we both got promoted in the early 90’s, I had job interviews in South West, and in Fife, OH could have transferred Brigades, but we did a lot of thinking, calculating, and realised that we rather had a good set up where we were. Both of us could walk to work, we would have had to find stabling for our horse, and we had all we needed well within our budget by staying put. 
We still occasionally discuss it, but at present, our big hope is to get back out touring places we love, places we haven’t yet been, and do this for months at a time. I think our preferences of where to live might have changed a bit as well these past couple of decades. We are drawn to Northumberland and Borders more and more. Still fairly quiet compared with most areas. Stunning countryside as well. Neither of us enjoy cities, beyond hospitals and the occasional visit. We love Dartmoor as well. I don’t mind admitting that I’d rather be surrounded by fields full livestock than humans😁

"one potential issue is not having a downstairs toilet"

we live in a bungalow so this is not a problem for us, however, some 6-7 years ago i knew i would need both knees replacing and the bungalow only had 1 bathroom with bath, shower, sink and toilet, so getting around inside was difficult and it certainly was not wheelchair friendly so we had a wet room built adjacent to the master bedroom, when the architect came to discuss he asked what it was i actually wanted,  i said

"i want to be able to roll out of my bed into a wheelchair, wheel myself into the wet room and be totally independant in the wet room" and he designed and we had built exactly that, and boy has it been put to good use, my 2 knee replacements, and most recently my OH stroke which left her paralised down the left side, ok now., the carers that came to help my OH thought it was magic.

Have to say when we downsized from Scotland i thought i was going to hate where we are located now, but it has grown on me, bungalow ideal fit for us and to accomodate guests, grounds large enough for hard standing for caravan with good access/exit, we live in a culd-de-sac, garden very low maintenance as in the past we have spent 3 months away in the caravan over there. We have the beach 5 mins walk away, we can walk into a good village shopping area, and the pub is on the way to the beach, Rookesbury park is 30 mins tug away, we lived there for 3 weeks when we first moved down from Scotland, oh! and we have excellent cycle paths and i love my bike, needless to say we wont be moving again, unless i wont the lottery, i would love somewhere with a pool

We have been in our house for 38 years and have thought about moving (well I have but you would have drag OH out kicking and screaming!) a few times over the years but I don't think that is going to happen now. It is a large 4 bedroomed detached house (we moved here with 3 teenagers) with 2 loos upstairs and 1 downstairs. We also have bus stops practically outside the house.The garden, although smaller than the one at our previous house, now seems biggish and we decided we need some help last year so now have a great guy who comes once a fortnight to do the heavy work and the cutting back and clearing. We decided the expense of moving was too great and it would mean a lot of decluttering. So no we have no thoughts of moving. Good luck with your house search TG. I hope it goes well.

After 2 lovely crisp, cold but sunny days it is grey and overcast today and bitterly cold. We had a lovely walk round our local park in the sunshine on Tuesday followed by a very welcome cup of coffee in their cafe. Yesterday and today have been 'maintenance' days. Chiropodist for me and hairdresser for both us yesterday and dentist this morning for me. All very boring but necessary.

We have been in this house for 36 years and don’t plan on moving any time soon we have never really considered it to be honest as we live in a very nice area at the end of a cul de sac got a decent sized garden and enough room on the drive to store the caravan. At one point there were 7 of us in this house us and the 5 kids but just us now and second youngest left so we have 2 spare rooms but that’s handy when we have visitors. Wouldn’t move far if we ever were to move as we have most of our family here and are close to the beach also right at the end of our road is a by pass so Glasgow etc are not far away. 

Good luck TG hope you find what your looking for.