Blog ≫ 2008 ≫ Yesterday's house hunt

A trip to Canterbury yesterday, an early start, four houses to see. First one was a bit further out than we first thought, up Whitstable Road, though not an insurmountable distance to Canterbury West. The house is at the end of a cul-de-sac, so you have to eye up every other house on the street before you arrive. Unfortunately, the house immediately adjacent has some eccentric types living there, who keep all of their rubbish. There was a car in the garden, stuffed full of and covered by bags of rubbish. The only thing I can remember about the house we went to see was what the neighbours' house was like. I can't see anyone buying it until the council have been in and cleared the place next door. Good luck if you go and visit!

Number two was very nice. 1930s build I think, up in the St Martins area of Canterbury, so still only a ten minute walk to the town centre, further to either of the stations. Huge hallway downstairs, a room in its own right, like the entrance to a much grander house. All big rooms and some good modern features like kitchen and upstairs bathroom, with separate modern shower. Very rare for Canterbury it seems, not sure they go in for bathing much there at all... All rooms upstairs were big, and the upstairs landing was big enough to double up as an office too, handy. 90ft rear garden, and bonus conservatory, but no space out the front, so no chance of parking, though that was the case in the best three houses we saw today. Quirky decor in the front room, done in a wacky retro style, I suspect it was the adults only sitting room, as all other rooms in the house were given over to toys and kids drawings. Clare especially liked this house. Got some pictures here. [flickr]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2428601270_4c11e90d4d.jpg[/flickr]

Next house was a similar area, but a terrace closer to town. Very smart inside, the owner had moved all the internal walls around which made it look quite cool. Oddly an upstairs bathroom, but no toilet, that was downstairs, probably that and the mini back garden were the only offputting bits.

The last house was amazing, and just reduced to within our price range, so it must have been available for a while but we'd not bothered to see it before. Four bedrooms, though only one downstairs bathroom, real cast iron open fires in four of the rooms and great wonky old oak floorboards everywhere. There's a trapdoor from the lounge and the kitchen down to a big cellar room, not sure if it was pool table sized or not but it was close. Clare wouldn't go down there and wouldn't like to live there, too spidery and a bit cold, but I thought it was fantastic. Bit impractical, looks like the windows need replacing and it's in a conservation area, so some expense ther. Also tiny backgarden and the front is right on the road, similar to the first place we looked at. No idea where you'd keep your bin, the agent didn't know either, so that's probably a no then. Got some pictures here. [flickr]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3176/2427791647_08be79d920.jpg[/flickr]

All houses were a bit expensive really, I'm a bit nervous about prices coming down further and us not being able to let the flat out, though we still don't want to do the obvious thing in flogging it and putting our equity towards the new house and sitting comfortably for years. The flat upstairs from where we are now is still not let, not sure there have even been any viewings, though maybe they line those up for the day time when we're not here. Or, maybe in all the renovations they put some soundproofing in and we just can't hear people up there.

Lunch in Boho again, lovely. Stayed in last night.

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Paul Clarke's blog - I live in Hythe in the far South. Wed + dad to 2, I am a full stack web engineer, + I do js / Node, some ruby, python, php etc. I like pubbing, running, eating, home-automation + other diy jiggery-pokery, history, family tree stuff, Television, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.