Just a little moan. I'm keen on the old gardening, and would like to move somewhere with a large garden. I'm not talking several acres - but I would like at least 1/2 acre, which is what I imagine when I see 'large garden' in an estate agent particulars. (Mr Hatster is happy to move anywhere with more than one bedroom ;-) )

Went to have a nose at a 'substantial' house nearby with 'large established gardens'. Well, I have never seen anything as sad in my life. I know the previous tenants slightly, and they are very charming, but they clearly have no turn for gardening whatsoever, and it's just a hodgepodge of parking area, bad trees and rose bushes plonked among grass, with a random set of laurel bushes to go with it. And the garden was chopped in three for a couple of new builds, and this poor 'substantial' house is right up against the fences on either side. I can't see how you could describe it as 'large' gardens - the sitting room window was enormous, and quite literally looking out on a 6ft fence. The sad thing is that the house was clearly designed so that the big windows looked out over an expanse of garden to either side, and that's been totally lost with the parking area and the new builds. The only bit where there's still garden is the back... where the tiny windows from the old servants quarters are...

So we won't be spending the hard-earned on that house!

That's a shame, hatster. A big house with big windows deserves a decent sized garden.

They didn't say there were 'extensive views' though did they

Sounds like the house has been extensively compromised by selling off the land. Shame.

That village where I came from, a bungalow has recently been flattened and a mahoosive detached built so that it spans the entire width of the plot, save for possible a tiny gate at one side. At the back they will have probably a small strip of land across that will no sun whatsoever as it will be north facing. But hey you could lose yourself in the house.
Madness.

BTW I always check google maps out now for size of front/ gardens as I found after driving miles to look outside houses you cannot trust EA's descriptions or worse, their pictures. They use a magic space lens.

HC - I know just the kind of thing you mean - aren't they grim? I just can't understand why people don't want outside space to look at and to be in. I suppose this house and the one you describe will be bought by people who sit inside watching the TV all day. Or rather, who wander around from room to room watching TVs in each different room.

On the other hand, I've just had two estate agents round when I'd just been oiling the kitchen worktops. One of them immediately said "oh, what a wonderful smell - just like a freshly oiled cricket bat" and the other said "no, much more like lapsang souchoung." So I think these two would probably think of 'large garden' as the ancestral acres ;-)