House Hunting Deep In The Heart Of The Countryside | Location, Location, Location | Reveal

this week it's house hunting in the open air as we're on the lookout for the perfect country cottage welcome to Bedfordshire this week we're house hunting deep in the heart of the countryside we're looking for a large house in a small village for a growing family there's Gary and his wife Debbie and their children Alex who's 10 Eleanore 7 Oliver 5 and Annabelle who's 2 they've been living in this four-bedroom house in working him for the past two years I'd like to move into more than villagey location to get a better pace of life I think it's too much for a rat race around here I need to be able to get to the motorway quickly because my job takes me all over the country so it's important to have motorway access so somewhere quiet but not isolated we love to have a huge garden particularly for the summer holidays when the children are they want to be out all the time if we had a pokey little garden it just wouldn't work and they'd be getting on each other's nerves if you're getting a minor's and that's not all we need a minimum of four bedrooms because of for children so we need to make sure that we've got plenty of space also we'd like it's better to put people up if they come and visit as well I'd like there to be a village pub and a village school and a village shop and it sounds a bit sickly idyllic but that's that's what we like really so it's time for us to meet the family that are looking to get out of the rat race and set up home in the perfect English village to recap then carrying their be make sure we're on the right track we're looking for a four-bed house in a rural location yep decent garden we reception rooms and a kitchen breakfast room got to have the kitchen breakfast room we could have two reception rooms but is the kitchen breakfast room is big than a spine okay and we've got budget is a quarter of a million pounds yep yes the nickels were quite open about where to move to we decided that Bedford sure was their best bet that's here they'd get the most for their money we've decided to narrow the search further to the area around and between Bedford and Milton Keynes here there are plenty of villages to choose between they have the best of both worlds as they still feel traditional and on sports yet they're well-connected to the m1 we've chosen six properties for the family to see our aim to put in an offer on one of them we start in the traditional village of Sean Brook with a great two listed property Rose Cottage the cottage in the village definitely looked the part and the local school is outstanding but will a family of six squeeze in and at half an hour from the m1 is it a little bit too far away really pretty garden Oh cozy it is cozy but perhaps too cozy yeah because nowadays 7-foot and a new build is is regulation you can't ever have anything lower than seven foot and that's a light yeah thinking be a house you wouldn't wear any shoes can you stand up straight for I wouldn't want to ieave end up walking around all day like this pretty title the hairstyle is the quintessential English yes small cottage is the sort of thing that would interest you though it would and without small [Laughter] because the children character spacing what you want is the character without the characteristics that's what yeah so far not so good right master bedroom in a bigger room somebody take it this is lovely but it takes away too much space you can't any furniture no yeah you're just a drawers and your dressing table the nickels were never going to fit into this house everything seems to be built for tiny people a chance yeah well it looked good on paper but the reality was something else a lovely cottage built on a tiny scale even after an hour I could feel myself starting to develop a stoop so lovely cottage in the right location not quite near enough to see the motorway ah for us well so the answer is lovely cottage in the wrong location and not big enough there are other things to bear in mind before you move to the country public transport can be hit or miss you may need to invest in a car or at the least a bike check who's already living in the you want to buy beetles woodworm and all sorts of bugs love old wood spot the signs the small holes or little piles of dust that they leave behind don't panic if you discover bats in your loft they won't harm you or your house and it's illegal to kill or injure them if you're buying a property with a thatched roof squirrels can be bad news they can cause havoc burrowing into the straw and chewing through electricity cables so our search continues we're off to Sill so 16 miles along the road down comes the rain and then go our gang to see this 1980s house built to look much older and under our budget and this time space is not a problem but lack of character could be what do we think about this fireplace not my type no I'd call it a greenhouse let's cut to it the living space that you've seen so far and the exterior and the garden what are your thoughts is it the right house well that was clear enough so onward to property number three another modern house this time the nickels are in and out in five seconds a bit of a record these guys don't hang around when it's not what they want next phase our last stop of the day is the village of Sherrington just over the border in Buckinghamshire it has two shops a pub and a good school and even better it's only five minutes from the m1 as cottage is a large 17th century property with tons of character it's on the market for just under a quarter of a million fingers-crossed will like it very nice yeah we'd like this hallway yeah it's quite impressive with the stone flags isn't it yeah and the mahogany banister detail on it yeah yeah do you see that's the front doorbell and it certainly has the character but what about the characteristics low lovely fireplace lovely fabrics wood-burning stove yeah huge slate hearth hmm these windows were added on I think these are adored in editions the house was originally is a 17th century house and this Bay gives you a lot more space I don't think they've taken full advantage of how much space the bay gives you maybe the ceilings were low and when they put the bays on they perhaps raised the ceilings or ordered so they obviously did major alterations in the early half of this century to this house so far so good it's got charm in spades and has plenty of recent work done on it to make it practical to live in although with secret doors cupboards and corridors it's a bit of a labyrinth that's nice and deep yeah this has been added on instruction though the rooms are still small by modern standards there are plenty of them there's even a bonus fifth bedroom at the back staircase and with its own facilities it could be the guest room that the nickels were hoping for obviously this room is an original room it was added on I don't know but it's a really good size it's got its own shower you're all upstairs listening to Kirsty no doubt I'm a bit concerned that the gardens that seemed they were too small for them anyway I looked like a point about the ivy Ivy's a really aggressive plant it can grow through mortar and bricks and I'd be a bit concerned that it can get under gutters and push through tiles could cause quite a problem way to deal with ivy look underneath hacksaw out cut it off and a year later it all began and a problem ash cottage is full of character and unlike some that we've seen it's also light and airy remember that many of these old cottages have small windows and thick walls and can get very dark when the weather is not so good so work out which way the windows are facing and be realistic about how much light you'll be getting first time as well as lots of ideas buzzing around yeah so we've scored a hit at last enough house-hunting time for a bit of R&R in the fresh air whilst it's quicker and quieter to do the house-hunting without the children it's also easy to the nickels to order priorities hardly use their current house puts a real emphasis on the garden it makes me wonder if the small overgrown garden at ash cottage is going to get the kids approval what's something I'm gonna take away from today that it's about the kids we've got to find this space for the kids it's important they like to kick a football around a little bit something that we can in part two we take a giant leap towards meeting all the family's requirements but there is a catch find out if you could live with it after the break if you think the country cottage it'll is beyond your budget visit channel 4 comm port slash for homes to find out how matter of miles can make a difference of thousands of pounds you don't have to live in the country to enjoy a natural lifestyle check out channel for calm /for homes to find out how to achieve that modern rustic look we're deep in the Bedfordshire countryside house hunting with the Nichols family we've seen four properties so far the first was too small the second was too boring and the third was too new but the fourth the beautiful 17th century ash cottage got the thumbs up inside at least though I couldn't really see the kids going for the small garden it's now the start of day two and we're heading off to the next property on our short list oak house is in the village of Dean's hangar and after yesterday interior space and a big garden have to be put to the top of the wish list well this is a genuine Victorian house it's on the market for 220,000 and Kirsten are hoping it's a little more along the right lines come on let's kind of look fingers crossed the first impressions are very good bigger for you I'll certainly a lot more space in this house and despite its country feel it has easy motorway access although you'd never know it from the idyllic and peaceful garden patio down here's get that but there is a problem there was one not supposedly was she with this house it only has three bedrooms ah right it wasn't that we hadn't noticed at 30 grand under their budget and was such a huge garden there was real scope for an extension but the Nichols didn't see it that way so it's on to Ridgemont for our final property Rose Cottage great looking huge garden good motorway access and plenty of floor space there's even a comparatively low asking price of two hundred and forty thousand pounds that's 10 grand below budget tempting those door frames original and I think the brick was lovely brickwork it looks original just now it's really nice a lot of character oh another nice nice bright room lots of positive stuff and certainly no problem with dark rooms phraseology for this is due to a less fabulous space yep Rose Cottage is the biggest house we've seen so far originally three cottages that have been knocked into one having seen a number of properties the Nichols have decided space inside and out is their number one priority classic decision from an accommodation point of view yeah it's got all the rooms we want it's got the downstairs may not be laid out exactly how he wants it back it's adaptable yes it's got the rooms which is the important thing but it feels like this is the only house in a little valley in its own valley yeah apart from the noise of the traffic oh yes the traffic cleverly disguised from the estate agents photograph the moral take particulars with a pinch of salt yeah there's well we understand there's a bypass being built around here so this eliminates look at I mean the bypass is due to reduce the traffic by eighty eight percent which is an enormous repair she's yeah so it would be like a country suddenly becomes a lane yeah but it's perfect we've unless that's appointed yes we've been told the bypasses due to be started in two years time mm-hmm my reading of it it's probably take two years to build it mmm you gonna pick out there for a while call it five years is that something you could live with I think we've got yeah I mean if everything else is really right time to be very realistic there were bypasses planned all over the country but in the last 10 year period only 40 percent of the proposed bypasses have been built make all decisions based on the existing problem if you can live with the traffic fine then if the bypass comes off it's a bonus but if you can't live with the traffic as it is look elsewhere start of day three and we've seen six properties time to decide which ones need a second look and to bring the whole family well you now have the night to think about it yep what are the decisions I want to look at Rose Cottage and ash Cottage okay and you're happy that you've seen enough and that one of those properties will be the family home yes okay we're back in Sherrington to revisit ash cottage we know it's got lots of rooms a fifth bedroom and a whole load of original features but this time we want to better look at the village what about the property the 17th century cottage uses charm with features like flagstone flooring and polished mahogany banisters however we discovered that it would probably need a complete rewiring an electricians bill for a five bedroom house like this could be as much as five thousand pounds which may push the Nichols over their budget positive my concern is how much work how much money yeah and time and their plans to clear the garden to create space for the kids to play in may end up opening a whole load of problems Gary and Debbie want to clear this garden have the most possible lawn space so the boys can kick a ball around but watch out if you're planning on cutting down any mature trees the dying roots shrivel up causing a vacuum which your house could fall in to take advice before cutting down any mature trees next it's back to Richmond which gets top marks for its good school and the best motorway access yet but there's a massive thumbs down for an appalling traffic problem a blight on the village and the property itself that said Rose Cottage scores highly elsewhere on the Nichols checklist there's a huge back garden child-friendly space and a lack of any urgent alteration so our second viewing focuses on the traffic problem we've come back at a different time of day to see if it gets any better verdict it doesn't can the family live with it the road the road is still in this super and I if this was a living room I'd I wouldn't feel comfortable with having the main road like that big tank a go way the windows are all facing is into the garden apart from this one the issue of safety I think we're starting to overcome because of using that as the main access to the house and that's also pretty of you as you come in so it's time for Debbie and Gary to start imagining what it would be like to live in the house this is too small as a lounge second viewings are about trying everything lie on the beds check the view when you're brushing your teeth take your time the next time you see it you might own it change change this to pine to keep in with all the rest of the furniture in the ensuite it's make your mind up time for Debbie and Gary today we've had two second earrings ash cottage the first one yeah and Rose Cottage we're sitting now uh either of those two your dream country cottage yes well they both are I think what we would term a dream country cottage but for our purposes as a large family this one Rose Cottage fits the bill better than ash cottage yeah and we feel really at home just you look very hot yes taken over already so offer time 240,000 pounds is the asking price but we're going in low and for good reason the property's been on the market for some time and we've heard that the vendor is keen to sell hello mr. Beasley its Phillip Spencer here from location location location I'm delighted to say that the second viewing did go very well right and I've been instructed to put an offer in yeah okay they've they've seen a lot of properties over the weekend yeah and I think I've got a good sense of value right okay and they've they've asked me to put in an offer at two hundred and twenty seven thousand pounds three hundred and twenty seven thousand pounds that's right right Phillip I'll give them for it then I'll come back to on that mobile number see what you can do thank you right thank you very much right well that's it we've had a really busy few days we've seen a lot of property yeah Kirsty and I are delighted to have being able to find the right house but I sense there's still a fair bit of negotiation to be done it's over to you too over very much so let's know how Co we will would invite you to the moving in thank you what you say then [Music] [Applause] [Music] we managed to find a house the nickels were keen to offer on and the process was thrown up a number of issues worth bearing in mind if you are thinking of moving to the countryside enchanted you are by that old-world charm many country cottages predate the clutter of modern life no CD players no TVs the windows the doors and even the rooms themselves were kept small for war be wary sometimes quirky can be plain impractical and like the House of the Nichols chose watch out that the quiet village hisotry doesn't become a rat run between the m1 and the m25 come Monday morning if you viewed at the weekends check back during the week and get a real feel for village life next week we're in Glasgow looking for a trendy 2-bedroom flat for a young media couple in some Scotland's best housing stock hope you can join us there but what happened to Debbie and Gary unfortunately we didn't get Rose Cottage it all fell through we're very sad about that well I mean another offer came in who had sold their property and we just put ours on the market we still would like to move but finding the dream home I mean it took a lot to get to Rose Cottage and that for all of us was perfect so to find something like that again to do it on our own would be extremely difficult you

Channel: Reveal

Views: 48,001

Rating: 4.8534799 out of 5

Keywords: find the perfect home in the perfect location, finding a home in london, kirstie allsopp and phil spencer, location location location full episodes, phil spencer, property experts kirstie allsopp and phil spencer, property programmes, reveal, reveal channel, should i buy a house, where is the best palce to buy a house, where is the perfect place to live, House Hunting Deep In The Heart Of The Countryside

Id: Oj5T4DWyJF8

Length: 23min 36sec (1416 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2019