'Mass exodus'

[Lightspeed]

(10 August 2013, 09:59)bigpaul Wrote: my area (and most of Devon) has a high cost of housing but low wages, most employment is minimum wage and lots of part time jobs, shops-supermarkets that sort of thing, a lot of people commute to Exeter-30 miles away, or Plymouth 40 miles away, there IS a bus service here, regular but several hours between each bus....most villages around here have NO bus service or maybe ONE bus per week on market day, so most people HAVE to run a car even if its an old banger! nearest supermarket is 8 miles away..there are actually 3 but they are all small ones, nearest big Tescos is at Crediton a 50 mile round trip!

Yes Its a bad situation BP and the prices are driven by affluent people looking to move into the area...its been like this for more than a decade in Devon, hasn't it?

[Tarrel]

I'm sure the basic sentiments are still relevant, but the article looks to be a few years old. It talks about the Prime Minister's home town of Kirkcaldy. That was Gordon Brown!

Leaving the city for the countryside as part of a prepping change of lifestyle is one thing, but doing so for some ill-defined, vague improvement in quality of life is something else again. For example, I wonder how many families with teenage kids have headed deep into the countryside, only to find they are a full-time taxi service for frustrated children who can't get to spend time with their schoolmates? I think folks really need to make this kind of move with their eyes fully open, and think through a "day/week/month in the life" to see if it's what they really want.

[bigpaul]

(11 August 2013, 21:00)Lightspeed Wrote:

(10 August 2013, 09:59)bigpaul Wrote: my area (and most of Devon) has a high cost of housing but low wages, most employment is minimum wage and lots of part time jobs, shops-supermarkets that sort of thing, a lot of people commute to Exeter-30 miles away, or Plymouth 40 miles away, there IS a bus service here, regular but several hours between each bus....most villages around here have NO bus service or maybe ONE bus per week on market day, so most people HAVE to run a car even if its an old banger! nearest supermarket is 8 miles away..there are actually 3 but they are all small ones, nearest big Tescos is at Crediton a 50 mile round trip!

Yes Its a bad situation BP and the prices are driven by affluent people looking to move into the area...its been like this for more than a decade in Devon, hasn't it?

probably since the 80s I guess, early 80s you could have bought a rural property for £50,000 now you need to put a 2 or a 3 in front.

[Lightspeed]

(12 August 2013, 09:22)bigpaul Wrote:

(11 August 2013, 21:00)Lightspeed Wrote:

(10 August 2013, 09:59)bigpaul Wrote: my area (and most of Devon) has a high cost of housing but low wages, most employment is minimum wage and lots of part time jobs, shops-supermarkets that sort of thing, a lot of people commute to Exeter-30 miles away, or Plymouth 40 miles away, there IS a bus service here, regular but several hours between each bus....most villages around here have NO bus service or maybe ONE bus per week on market day, so most people HAVE to run a car even if its an old banger! nearest supermarket is 8 miles away..there are actually 3 but they are all small ones, nearest big Tescos is at Crediton a 50 mile round trip!

Yes Its a bad situation BP and the prices are driven by affluent people looking to move into the area...its been like this for more than a decade in Devon, hasn't it?

probably since the 80s I guess, early 80s you could have bought a rural property for £50,000 now you need to put a 2 or a 3 in front.

You're right BP, I remember looking at buying an old farmouse near to your location in the late 80s and that wes about the price.... Great location but it was a falling down past repair cob built hovle and would have cost morr than £100k to put right even in those days.

I still wish I'd bought it though. Hi hum!

[bigpaul]

even as late as the 90s I could have bought a rural place out on Dartmoor near Cadover Bridge(Cornwood/Shaugh Prior side of the moor near Plymouth) for £50K last time it sold it was nearer £300K! and it was in good nick for the £50K not saying it was modern but then i'm not looking for modern.

[Lightspeed]

Ancient and rustic is certainly a preppy way to go Paul. Massive construction and good proven low tech solutions that have stayed the test of time.

But un modernised ones are extremely thin on the ground and the modernisation process for most of these properties means removal of features that we all crave ( dry toilets, and functional brick built wood stoves and ovens etc), all replaced with the latest shiny but quaint cottagy type plumbing and latest ceramic cooking hobs and nice new laminate floors...and not forgetting the TV sockets in every room!

Mrs LS thinks I'm completely bonkers as I came into the house two weekends ago, apparently grinning like a schoolboy, as under the Ivy I was clearing from an outbuilding wall, under several inches of Ivy stems I found an old wooden door...and inside it our hous's original dry toilet. Funny how something like that can brighten my day eh? (Building a dry toilet was on my to do list for this autumn, but I hadn't quitre worked out how to get Mrs LS on board with the idea of losing some of her garden!)

[bigpaul]

(12 August 2013, 11:39)Lightspeed Wrote: Ancient and rustic is certainly a preppy way to go Paul. Massive construction and good proven low tech solutions that have stayed the test of time.

But un modernised ones are extremely thin on the ground and the modernisation process for most of these properties means removal of features that we all crave ( dry toilets, and functional brick built wood stoves and ovens etc), all replaced with the latest shiny but quaint cottagy type plumbing and latest ceramic cooking hobs and nice new laminate floors...and not forgetting the TV sockets in every room!

Mrs LS thinks I'm completely bonkers as I came into the house two weekends ago, apparently grinning like a schoolboy, as under the Ivy I was clearing from an outbuilding wall, under several inches of Ivy stems I found an old wooden door...and inside it our hous's original dry toilet. Funny how something like that can brighten my day eh? (Building a dry toilet was on my to do list for this autumn, but I hadn't quitre worked out how to get Mrs LS on board with the idea of losing some of her garden!)

Rural, Remote, Isolated, Old and Rustic are my watchwords when looking at property, all I need now is the money to buy it with!

[Lightspeed]

(12 August 2013, 13:11)bigpaul Wrote:

(12 August 2013, 11:39)Lightspeed Wrote: Ancient and rustic is certainly a preppy way to go Paul. Massive construction and good proven low tech solutions that have stayed the test of time.

But un modernised ones are extremely thin on the ground and the modernisation process for most of these properties means removal of features that we all crave ( dry toilets, and functional brick built wood stoves and ovens etc), all replaced with the latest shiny but quaint cottagy type plumbing and latest ceramic cooking hobs and nice new laminate floors...and not forgetting the TV sockets in every room!

Mrs LS thinks I'm completely bonkers as I came into the house two weekends ago, apparently grinning like a schoolboy, as under the Ivy I was clearing from an outbuilding wall, under several inches of Ivy stems I found an old wooden door...and inside it our hous's original dry toilet. Funny how something like that can brighten my day eh? (Building a dry toilet was on my to do list for this autumn, but I hadn't quitre worked out how to get Mrs LS on board with the idea of losing some of her garden!)

Rural, Remote, Isolated, Old and Rustic are my watchwords when looking at property, all I need now is the money to buy it with!

Bringing us back onto topic.....maybe you should mug a white flighter on their way down there?

[bigpaul]

(12 August 2013, 13:35)Lightspeed Wrote:

(12 August 2013, 13:11)bigpaul Wrote:

(12 August 2013, 11:39)Lightspeed Wrote: Ancient and rustic is certainly a preppy way to go Paul. Massive construction and good proven low tech solutions that have stayed the test of time.

But un modernised ones are extremely thin on the ground and the modernisation process for most of these properties means removal of features that we all crave ( dry toilets, and functional brick built wood stoves and ovens etc), all replaced with the latest shiny but quaint cottagy type plumbing and latest ceramic cooking hobs and nice new laminate floors...and not forgetting the TV sockets in every room!

Mrs LS thinks I'm completely bonkers as I came into the house two weekends ago, apparently grinning like a schoolboy, as under the Ivy I was clearing from an outbuilding wall, under several inches of Ivy stems I found an old wooden door...and inside it our hous's original dry toilet. Funny how something like that can brighten my day eh? (Building a dry toilet was on my to do list for this autumn, but I hadn't quitre worked out how to get Mrs LS on board with the idea of losing some of her garden!)

Rural, Remote, Isolated, Old and Rustic are my watchwords when looking at property, all I need now is the money to buy it with!

Bringing us back onto topic.....maybe you should mug a white flighter on their way down there?

Hmm, now that's a thought?

[BeardyMan]

(10 August 2013, 09:25)bigpaul Wrote: a lot of incomers are buying into the "gated community" idea, there is a new one just outside Holsworthy about 13 miles from me.

Got a link??