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Mazoo

Best way to find property to rent

Hi everyone, me and Mr Mazoo have wanted to move somewhere with land and live a more sustainable life for years. We have actually decided to do it now, instead of just dreaming.

The trouble is I can't figure out the best way to find a house to rent. On the usual big property sites there seem to be hardly any suitable places with land. They really seem to see 'town centre' and postage stamp size garden as selling points. We saw one property on greenshifters website but it has gone before we could get in touch with the owner.

Of course I'm not asking for people to do all the searching but what we would like, ( just in case their are any volunteers lurking! ) is something in Anglesey or North or possibly West Wales. We would also consider North Yorkshire or further oop North. There is just the 2 of us so we don't need a large house. anything from a large garden to an acre or 2 and ideally a workshop for our small business tinkering. Our ideal place would be not far from the coast.

Does anyone have any advice on what worked for them? We think renting from people who understand the lifestyle would be best as we want to be able to grow stuff etc....but what are the best ways to find them?
Nick

Local estate agents round here offer that kind of property. Find the local town and hunt out the equivalent.
gz

Welcome Aboard pirate Very Happy

Like Nick said, look local....nothing replaces the footwork,although we did find a reasonable place on Gumtree a few years ago!

Stay in an area for a while, get to know it well. This may seem a waste of time and money when you could be getting on with things, but learning how a particular place works can be vital...and you might pick up information on the local grapevine...saves moving somewhere quickly and realizing you've made a ghastly mistake Confused (We did that too Sad )
Mazoo

Good advice to contact local estate agents, I'm not sure how to get to know areas without renting somewhere to stay though....maybe visit them in our camper van?

Thanks for the replies.
Hairyloon

The best way is to get lucky and have a friend who happens to know someone, but I'm afraid that's not something we get to choose so that wasn't very helpful, sorry.

Good luck.
Mazoo

The best way is to get lucky and have a friend who happens to know someone, but I'm afraid that's not something we get to choose so that wasn't very helpful, sorry.

Good luck.


Yep i'm waiting to be lucky and the ideal place just to come along Laughing

i have a friend that lives in Anglesey, so will recruit them to the search at least.
Pilsbury

Good advice to contact local estate agents, I'm not sure how to get to know areas without renting somewhere to stay though....maybe visit them in our camper van?

Thanks for the replies.

might be worth dropping bodger a pm on here, he is in that area and might be able to advise you.
p.s. as a new member you migyt not be able to pm yet so I did and pointed him to this thread.
Ty Gwyn

Don`t know about rents in other parts of the country,but the farmhouse nextdoor with a large garden,2 infact and a workshop is rented at £650 per month,near Lampeter/Aberaeron. Hairyloon

And by a strange coincidence someone has just come on facebook offering a house to rent... In Leeds unfortunately. joanne

I can tell you that in Lancashire and Cumbria the Agents to look at are Richard Turner and Sons (terrible website btw), Armistead Barnett and Ackland Bracewell Surveyors.

Unfortunately I don't know any in North or West Wales
NorthernMonkeyGirl

And by a strange coincidence someone has just come on facebook offering a house to rent... In Leeds unfortunately.

House in Leeds with land/garden?
Mazoo

Thankyou everyone for you help. I wouldn't necessarily rule out somewhere in Leeds, it has to 'feel' right I suppose but we have our preferred areas, if you see what I mean. Mazoo

Good advice to contact local estate agents, I'm not sure how to get to know areas without renting somewhere to stay though....maybe visit them in our camper van?

Thanks for the replies.
might be worth dropping bodger a pm on here, he is in that area and might be able to advise you.
p.s. as a new member you migyt not be able to pm yet so I did and pointed him to this thread.

That's very kind of you. i read Bodger's cider thread Very Happy
NorthernMonkeyGirl

Thankyou everyone for you help. I wouldn't necessarily rule out somewhere in Leeds, it has to 'feel' right I suppose but we have our preferred areas, if you see what I mean.

Depending what you want to do, Leeds is pretty good for foodie types, farmers markets, etc. Further out along Calderdale you've got Incredible Edible Todmorden and the arty hippies of Hebden Bridge too Mr. Green
Pilsbury

Good advice to contact local estate agents, I'm not sure how to get to know areas without renting somewhere to stay though....maybe visit them in our camper van?

Thanks for the replies.
might be worth dropping bodger a pm on here, he is in that area and might be able to advise you.
p.s. as a new member you migyt not be able to pm yet so I did and pointed him to this thread.

That's very kind of you. i read Bodger's cider thread Very Happy
did you read they are looking to move...
Mazoo

Thankyou everyone for you help. I wouldn't necessarily rule out somewhere in Leeds, it has to 'feel' right I suppose but we have our preferred areas, if you see what I mean.

Depending what you want to do, Leeds is pretty good for foodie types, farmers markets, etc. Further out along Calderdale you've got Incredible Edible Todmorden and the arty hippies of Hebden Bridge too Mr. Green

we're in Manchester so we know those places a bit, arty is good, because we are arty!

Pillsbury - no I didn't read they were moving.
gz

What sort of arty? I'm a potter, we have printers, woodturners...... Mazoo

What sort of arty? I'm a potter, we have printers, woodturners......

I studied Clothing design and make sewing patterns and clothes, also interested in textile print design, I dabble in garden design ( so far that's a hobby but would like to go further). Mr Mazoo does cartoons, graphic design, T shirt design and websites.
GrahamH

Hi Mazoo.

I am originally from Manchester. Have you thought of France or Spain? There are several Downsizers in these locations.
It sounds as if Mr Mazoo can work from anywhere with an internet connection.
Hairyloon

And by a strange coincidence someone has just come on facebook offering a house to rent... In Leeds unfortunately.

House in Leeds with land/garden?
They didn't say... Leeds may be characterised by back do back houses with not even so much as a yard, and it does have a lot of them, but I wouldn't say they're typical.
Isn't likely to be a big garden, if it has one.
Mazoo

Hi Mazoo.

I am originally from Manchester. Have you thought of France or Spain? There are several Downsizers in these locations.
It sounds as if Mr Mazoo can work from anywhere with an internet connection.

Hello GrahamH..... We don't want to go abroad really, we have family we want to be able to see a few times a year and have to think of the cost and time of getting there and back. We love Ireland too but it would be the same thing. We decided Wales, or somewhere north would probably be best for us.
henchard

We moved to West Wales six years ago and love it.

There are a number of fairly active local Facebook groups related to small holdings and farming; properties for rent sometimes come up on those and you could of course post on those yourself. Such as

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WestWalesbarterandexchange/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/628426723941425/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/628426723941425/

probably loads more
Mazoo

Thanks Henchard, i shall check them out. john of wessex

National Trust?
The 'Big House' - local landed estates might have something
Shan

Find out who the Property Managers are for the Landed Estates in the area your are interested in & loo on their websites. They often have quite a few farms and smallholdings on their books.

This website might also help: http://www.uklandandfarms.co.uk/search/
Hairyloon

Find out who the Property Managers are for the Landed Estates in the area your are interested in & loo on their websites.
Perhaps not. That kind of behaviour does tend to upset people...
Wink
dpack

Laughing

not quite as good as the local council sports and recreation department news letter bragging about opening their brand new 25m poo .
Mazoo

'25 m poo' .... That's not really what I'm looking for. Smile

I will have a look on the other website suggested, thanks for that. So far i have seen an estate in Anglesey that might be worth applying for, the national trust had very little (3 properties in the UK) , they looked very expensive and they interview you , aswell as the usual checks eek!) i have also viewed endless ads that say things such as, no pets, no dss, landscaped gardens, criminal record checks, professionals only ( what ever that means) etc..... It's not that we'd fail these checks, we are self employed not dss but we do want somewhere we can grow things and have pets. We would love woodland as well.....but how this all comes together i don't know.
dpack

have you explored the work part time in exchange for premises route?

i have met a few folk who have a nice place to live in exchange for a reasonable amount of gardening ,housekeeping ,moo minding etc etc .
Mazoo

I just thought I'd update this thread. We were in Ireland for 10 days and decided we would like to live there after all. I have always wanted to.

We are looking for somewhere to buy with a small house that can be done up on a /ahem/ 'modest' (aka tiny) budget. Now we are faced with looking at things online and thinking about the logistics and cost of going back over to see them.

So thanks to everyone for their suggestions here, I suppose if I want advice on buying somewhere in Ireland I should post it on the moving abroad forum.
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