A busy week (again!) We have our eldest daughter staying with us at the moment, as she has started a new job with a Carmarthen charity and is on an induction week. She will be going back to Yorkshire on Sunday though, and work from home then.
We took time out on Tuesday and drove over to the Brecon/Hay-on-Wye area to view 3 properties. Of course, what looks good on paper, does not necessarily work out so well "in the flesh". Our first property was the "sensible option" - to see if it would work for us - a bungalow, with stupendous views (the one above is of the same view taken a couple of miles up the road). I have to say, whilst the building worked size-wise and had good storage, the garden was NOT my sort of planting (straight lines and "easy maintenance" shrubs and conifers, and nowhere to plant fruit trees or fruit bushes. It had a small swimming pool - a waste of time in our climate, and maintenance we wouldn't want to have to add to our list of outgoings. However, it was rather cheek by jowl with other properties and lacked privacy for me, plus it was a little gloomy inside and I really hanker for a light airy house after years of the gloom here!
Above and below: views taken driving through the Black Mountains to the next property, which was absolutely STUNNING, suited me to the teeth, but the Mr didn't like the beautiful natural garden due to the fact that there was a steep bank to mow (or leave, as I would - I'd plant it with wild flowers). The garden sheds were . . . well, we'll call them petite (blardy useless for us anyway!)
The cottage, however, was TEENSY upstairs - two bedrooms so small that once you got a double bed in there was room for nothing else, so storage was at a premium. They would need knocking through to make one half decent sized room, but even so when you consider all our big lumps of furniture here, we would have needed to get rid of just about everything we owned to fit in there! As I said, what looks "doable" on paper, falls flat when you see it with a practical eye. Plus broadband would be expensive as it was by satellite only, due to the mountains, and there was no shop in the village (again, you don't find this out until you view). Plus it was ALL the money (and more) and if you wanted the Aga, or various other free-standing bits of kitchen fitting, all were extra by negotiation!
We had lunch in Hay, and then had a little time to kill before the final viewing, so did a drive-by of it, and explored the nearby lanes. It was very handy for Brecon and had nice views again, and super walking in the area. I liked it a lot - a little on the small side but just about doable and it was the right price, so you could always put a small extension on. Once again, my wretched husband was sniffy (HE liked the bungalow because it was bigger), and said it had no character, but I always think you can put that right with a little less beige paint (throughout!) and your own nice pieces of furniture and paintings. It's academic anyway, since it will probably sell very quickly (it is a good buy) and we don't have another viewing for a month now - even supposing they might offer, which the way things are going at the moment, seems unlikely!
Still, we may have to bite the bullet about relocating the driveway, so watch this space.
Above and below: views near the last cottage.
Gosh, my walking feet wanted to be up and doing!
Anyway, we shall see. A couple of other possibles have come onto the market which we may check out - one is particularly nice and has storage. We'll see.
