"Roy Forster" wrote in message
...
You don't fancy moving abroad do you. Better climate for gardening
and all
that. Lots of French property around, even with the Euro
appreciating, which
is cheap by UK comparisons. I've seen lots of property with an acre
or more
at very tempting prices.

Roy

If you do fancy France, the Dordogne is lovely and fairly cheap.
My mad friend Sue lives there and is an estate agent...........

http://green-acre.com/immorama/ (shameless bit of advertising !!)

Jenny :~))

"Warwick Dumas" wrote

Have you considered having a separate house and garden, or indeed
flat and
garden?

snipped

What a ghastly idea !!! One MUST be able to pop out the back door into
the garden :~))
Jenny

"Drakanthus" wrote in message
...
I just tried that one. With search criteria of up to £150k and Cornwall it
says no properties are available - and suggests I WIDEN the search
criteria!
Same for Devon too. Somehow I don't believe the results!
I probably need to NARROW the search results and do individual searches
for
each individual town along the coast. Frustrating.
I tried a site earlier today that with numerous searches gave email
addresses of estate agents all round the coast. The emails all go via the
web site who must be acting as a partner. It took me hours. They have all
bounced as undeliverable - a complete waste of an afternoon.

Well, first point is - what are you calling a big garden?

Second point is - are you really looking for Devon and Cornwall?
If so, then I think your chances are pretty slim.

I live in Cornwall. You cant look at an ordinary house with a postage stamp
garden for less than 150K generally here ( unless its mundic block!). An ex
council house will cost 85K

I think you are too late.

A house ( cottage down the road from me - 2 beds) was billed by the estate
agent to have a large garden ( 50ft x25 ish in my estimate) and went for
120K about a month ago.

The one the "other side " of me has a quater of an acre and he is asking
265K - although he has been on the market for 12 months now!

Me, I bought a two bed bungalow ( nothing fancy , in need of doing up) about
four years ago for 75K ( although the estate agent had priced it at 89K then
two years on the the market which was low at the time , and I was cheeky
and offered a quick sale)

.. It had a third of an acre but fields all around and I also asked a local
farmer for the field around my house - thats how I got my "garden" . But my
*garden* is still only a third of an acre - the rest is pasture and I have
trees in it ( fruit trees) because of agrecultural restrictions.

I am planning on asking permission for a poly tunnel soon though.

I recently asked an estate agent how much for my bungalow and garden (
didnt mention I had the field) just for a quick estimate on how much it had
gone up - he told me I would only get about 130K.

I thought he was quoting cheap ..... but he pointed out two beds run cheap
,even though I have a seperate dining room and a kitchen breakfast room and
a 20ft x12ft sitting room.

Having said that, it still might be possible to get a run down place with a
bit of land if you aren't too fussy where and away from the coast.

Have you tried Carrick or Restormal council districts? Or even parts of
North Cornwall District.

It really depends on what you want.

I think lots of folk are looking for what you are looking for.

Have you thought of asking "location Location Location" on Channel 4 to
help - weren't they looking for people the other day?

"Roy Forster" wrote in message
...
You don't fancy moving abroad do you. Better climate for gardening
and all
that. Lots of French property around, even with the Euro
appreciating, which
is cheap by UK comparisons. I've seen lots of property with an acre
or more
at very tempting prices.

Roy


I was going to suggest that! We moved here at the end of 1997 and
have three acres with a 17th century farmhouse. Loads of space for
gardening. For the money you are planning to spend you would be
able to find a decent house plus a very good sized garden. Prices are
going up all the time, but £120,000 would still buy something good
here. Can heartily recommend the life.

Regards
Iris McCanna

On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 21:13:24 +0100, "anne"
wrote:

Lincolnshire is your best bet - lots of houses in the middle of fields etc,
but even house prices there are getting ridiculous.


The day of the cheapy house in Lincolnshire has gone forever now.

Today in Boston if you want a nice 3 bed house with nothing more than
a patch of lawn then you`ll be looking at 150k.

quarter of an acre and the chances are your wanting a 4 or 5 bed home
and in that case it`s 1/4 million IF you can get your hands on any
details.

Down here in Wisbech where I work you can get a nice portacabin house
(only way to describe them) with 2 bedrooms and these will set you
back a cool 80k.

New developement of town houses in immigration lane in boston (where
the iraq and portugese have set up 50 to a room are coming in at an
astonishing 150k with no garden (yup you read it here first NO GARDEN)
and no car parking. It is oposite the river where the fishing boats
are moored BUT it is a working jetty and therefore the smell of
cockles when they are in season is pretty unbearable.

I am aware that similar properties elsewhere would probably be twice
the price and I`ve just fueled the increase even more at the detriment
of my fellow Bostonians.

"Barry & Iris McCanna" wrote in message
...

I was going to suggest that! We moved here at the end of 1997 and
have three acres with a 17th century farmhouse. Loads of space for
gardening. For the money you are planning to spend you would be
able to find a decent house plus a very good sized garden. Prices
are
going up all the time, but £120,000 would still buy something good
here. Can heartily recommend the life.

Regards
Iris McCanna



Another thought is to get some of the gardening magazines and look at
the classified ads. There are always properties for sale with
emphasis on the garden. Your price level is going to be against you
though. A friend of mine has just paid £147,000 for a one-bedroomed
flat on the south coast. When you watch some of the property
programmes on the television it is pretty impossible even for the
specialists to find suitable places within budget. Also you see
young couples born and bred in a Cornish village or similar searching
in vain for something they can afford to buy to start their life
together. They can't. We live in Basse Normandie and it is getting
like that here too. The young people cannot afford to buy because the
English are paying larger and larger amounts for everything.

Iris McCanna

Drakanthus wrote:

... Plenty of the sites have search specs for land and 'big garden or
smallholding.. Try www.propertyfinder.co.uk and similar listed in the
Google directory..

I just tried that one. With search criteria of up to £150k and Cornwall it
says no properties are available - and suggests I WIDEN the search criteria!
Same for Devon too. Somehow I don't believe the results!
I probably need to NARROW the search results and do individual searches for
each individual town along the coast. Frustrating.
I tried a site earlier today that with numerous searches gave email
addresses of estate agents all round the coast. The emails all go via the
web site who must be acting as a partner. It took me hours. They have all
bounced as undeliverable - a complete waste of an afternoon.

I registered with the Rightmove web site and now can't logon due to a
technical fault at their end.

Some other web sites act as partners for several estate agents and don't
display a top navigation bar. Fine until you find yourself viewing the
details of a property and they haven't put a "Back" button on the form and
you need to close down the window and start the entire search process from
scratch again.

One thing I have learnt from this exercise - some web sites are much easier
to use and navigate than others. Some insist on taking you up the garden
path (wish they did literally) and have cluttered screens with too much to
read to get to where you want.

I'm sure the right property exists somewhere out there with a vendor keen to
sell and us keen to buy. Putting the two together is the tricky bit.

Moan over. I feel better now. It has been a frustrating day searching.
Hopefully better luck tomorrow.
I have already tried some of your other suggestions with no luck, but will
try the rest tomorrow.

I think you need also to find your way around your browser..
Presumably IE?

Often the delete key or Cmd (poss ctrl in Win) and the left arrow will
give you an equivalent of 'Back' (right arrow is foward) You may also
want to learn the modifier key for opening in a new page, this often
lets you break free of the 'host' sites and get onto to actual estate
agents site.. THe other one is 'open frame in new window'.. Most of
these are also available in the contextual dropdown menu ( click the
'other' mouse button in win.) On macs just hold down the mouse on a link
to see this.

A final suggestion.. Have you ventured into the property newsgroups
yet, or the local ones for a area you're looking?

My server carries uk.local.cornwall & alt.uk.property.. I haven;t
checked either of them out yet, but its a look in the right direction
poss..

I like others though, guess that you need to either elvevate your price
range or reduce your specs (eg small house/flat and seperate land) or
change your area..


I think at that price you've missed the boat, in property by about 10 or
more years in that area.. At a guess that is..

Good luck
//
Jim

Mark wrote:

Drakanthus typed:

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if there any properties out
there for sale with big gardens that don't cost a fortune i.e. less
than 120k?

Well I bought a 150 acre farm for that !
Er it was 30years ago, have prices gone up ?

LOL Have they!!...

My parents bought there house here in London for under 10000..35 years
ago..

I could afford afford to rent a room in this area if I wanted to move
out, let alone buy anything.
//
Jim

"Drakanthus" wrote in message
...
... Plenty of the sites have search specs for land and 'big garden or
smallholding.. Try www.propertyfinder.co.uk and similar listed in the
Google directory..

I just tried that one. With search criteria of up to £150k and Cornwall
it
says no properties are available - and suggests I WIDEN the search
criteria!
Same for Devon too. Somehow I don't believe the results!

I'm affraid that Devon and Cornwall, for that type of property, are no
longer cheap. It seems that folks in SE England have been getting stupid
prices for their houses lately and a great many have either retired, or
"down-shifted" (or whatever they call it) and moved west. Check out
www.upmystreet.com for trends. Prices for detatched properties reflect what
someone in the SE might get for selling a semi in Wokingham or similar; it
will get worse since government policy is to build very few detatched
properties, none with land, and none beyond existing large settlements.

On the plus side, property here (Okehampton, Devon) doesn't seem to be
selling very quickly at present so I suspect that prices are set rather too
high and you might be able to haggle. Even so for places with a decent
amount of land £150 is very little and you're close to the price of a
building plot; so even a derelict house would sell for that figure if it
has a decent view, nearby pub, etc.

I probably need to NARROW the search results and do individual searches
for
each individual town along the coast. Frustrating.

Keep away from the coast, it's going to cost you several £10k that you
could spend on other things. Unless you're within walking distance it's
worthless and you're never going to afford a sea view and a garden (which
would generally be on a severe slope anyway). If you're within 30 minutes
drive surely that would be good enough? I've a short list of Okehampton
agents at
http://okehampton.freezope.org/direc...=estate_agents

In the past I've seen details of properties that appear to meet your
criteria and are much cheaper than others - examples include next door to a
filling station, backing on to a main line railway line, oh and next door
to a working quarry. There are I'm sure also "bargains" to be had near to
land fill sites, slaughter houses, etc. Indeed these days overhead
powerlines and mobile phone masts may help to make a property more
afforable, as might a risk of flooding. Take your pick.


....


Michael Saunby

Drakanthus typed:

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if there any properties out
there for sale with big gardens that don't cost a fortune i.e. less
than 120k?

I took a look through the local homeseeker paper this morning ( Plymouth,
S.Devon and SE Cornwall).

There was nothing advertised for 120K with a large garden except there was
a bungalow in need of modernisation ( Woolway 3 beds - which means its a
manufactured type) for auction in Oakehampton with 2/3 of an acre ground.

Price guide was 115+K.

As I said before I think you may have to up your figure a little.

"mick" wrote in
:

Having said that, it still might be possible to get a run down place
with a bit of land if you aren't too fussy where and away from the
coast.

Have you tried Carrick or Restormal council districts? Or even parts
of North Cornwall District.

Liskeard area is still fairly cheap, particularly out towards Bodmin Moor
(Pensilva). But most of the 'semi-derelicts' that were for sale round here
when we moved 3 years ago are now all double glazing and fresh paint.
Go East across the Tamar and you haven't a hope, except possibly up north
of Bideford - Northam and Westward Ho! That would take you away from the
south coast, (but near the north one, which has better surf).

Ilfracombe is cheap, but for a reason, and you'll be lucky to find a big
garden there.

Barnstaple still has the odd 'in need of renovation' that I notice from
time to time, but again, garden sizes not usually that big.

You'd have to be lucky, and quick.

Victoria

3 beds????
Garden?????

Our tiny two bed terrace with a very small back yard (hence the allotment)
got a "free evaluation" from the estate agent last week.. (we were bored
OK!!)
and they said K175........ no way.....................................
How the hell can anyone start on the ladder..... I know I could not afford
to buy my house again.....
As for gardens.............. Its worth the £8 a year I pay for the
allotment!!



"Chris Norton" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 21:13:24 +0100, "anne"
wrote:

Lincolnshire is your best bet - lots of houses in the middle of fields
etc,
but even house prices there are getting ridiculous.


The day of the cheapy house in Lincolnshire has gone forever now.

Today in Boston if you want a nice 3 bed house with nothing more than
a patch of lawn then you`ll be looking at 150k.

quarter of an acre and the chances are your wanting a 4 or 5 bed home
and in that case it`s 1/4 million IF you can get your hands on any
details.

Down here in Wisbech where I work you can get a nice portacabin house
(only way to describe them) with 2 bedrooms and these will set you
back a cool 80k.

New developement of town houses in immigration lane in boston (where
the iraq and portugese have set up 50 to a room are coming in at an
astonishing 150k with no garden (yup you read it here first NO GARDEN)
and no car parking. It is oposite the river where the fishing boats
are moored BUT it is a working jetty and therefore the smell of
cockles when they are in season is pretty unbearable.

I am aware that similar properties elsewhere would probably be twice
the price and I`ve just fueled the increase even more at the detriment
of my fellow Bostonians.

"Drakanthus" wrote
Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if there any properties out
there
for sale with big gardens that don't cost a fortune i.e. less than
120k?
snip
Drakanthus.

Try Forest of Dean or Welsh Borders
happy hunting

kate

On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 20:39:16 +0100, "Drakanthus"
wrote:

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if there any properties out there
for sale with big gardens that don't cost a fortune i.e. less than 120k? We
don't care about the type or state of the property - even a semi derelict
will suffice.

snip within 30 miles of either the South coast of
England or Cornwall, Devon or South Wales,

Have you thought of Shropshire or Herefordshire? Still land to be had
around here, and I can recommend it as a place to live :-)


--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Remove the LIZARD to email reply

Mark wrote:
Drakanthus typed:

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if there any properties out
there for sale with big gardens that don't cost a fortune i.e. less
than 120k?

Well I bought a 150 acre farm for that !
Er it was 30years ago, have prices gone up ?

A bit!