| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Maxwell Smart |
Looking for property for rent???Anybody have any property to rent?Ideally with the following - though all things considered. 1) a few hours to London 2) room to work from home - ideally an outbuilding. 3) at least two/three rooms 4) close to good schools Can be remote (my preference) - can be in a town (wife's preference).... but not so remote that I can't get broadband... Haven't set budget if the place is right. Just want to try getting out of London for awhile. Looking for reasonably longterm as kids are in school and don't want to be changing on them. Most of the online estate agents don't really have rentals listed and if they do its for people wanting to spend more than most people earn... 
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| Barefoot Andrew |
Hi Maxwell,
Your post appeared twice, creating two identical new threads, so I've taken the liberty of deleting one, leaving one. A. |
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| gil |
What did you mean by 'a few hours from London' ?
How many hours / other travel considerations ? In other words, where ? Have you tried C&D Property Services (Cumbria) ? Or is that too far ? |
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| Maxwell Smart |
Sorry about that - not sure why that was.
Was thinking roughly south of Birmingham and East of Bristol as I need somewhat ready access to London. |
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| marigold |
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/ list rentals in many areas. | ||||||
| cab |
How do you plan to travel to London? | ||||||
| MarkS |
where in london? york is under two hours by train to kings X |
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| cab |
They are the big questions. If you can travel by train to London, you'll save a heck of a lot of travel time by choosing somewhere on the correct train line. |
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| woodsprite |
www.lanefox.co.uk have properties to let in Oxfordshire and other get at able places. We've rented from them before. | ||||||
| chez |
Wer'e looking to rent our house out for six months, given that we haven't got a buyer yet. It's quite far away though - about 3 hours on the train, 3.5 by car. | ||||||
| Jb |
And how do you intend to get across London when you get there? Pick two points in London and they can easily be over an hour apart (an hour from Docklands is two hours from Heathrow) | ||||||
| boisdevie1 |
How often do you need London?
Do you work from home? Rents are cheap in France and if you get somewhere in the Pas de Calais you can take the Eurostar from Calais to Waterloo in an hour. Just a wacky thought. BTW, a 3 bed house costs about 650 euros a month rent. |
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| Maxwell Smart |
Firstly thanks for all the replies. My knowledge of nice places to live outside of London is severely limited. Hence my reason for asking all you downsizers - many whom live in those areas!
Essentially I think we need to figure out where the good schools are and possibly refine it from there. Oh the other thing that would be nice is access to good farm shops...yum yum. 
Marigold - thanks have looked there Cab - it would either be train or car. Yes on a train line would be ideal but am also aware of costs. I essentially have a budget to spend on either a big place with an outbuilding for working (preferable) or a smaller place and a commercial property. I also want someplace with character and I think I just won't get that on any major train lines. Also the amount of times I need to go into London is probably no more than once a week if that. MarkS - no where specific but mainly Central London. As reasons for comming would be meetings it is no one area in particular. woodsprite - Thanks I was looking at them last night. So far they seem to have the nicest properties. But a lot of choosing now comes down to my knowledge of an area. chez - looks beautiful but unfortunately a little too far and probably too short a let. but thanks for flagging it up. JB - public transport, cab or drive but usually most things I need to do are fairly central boisdevie1 - Not often and I have seriously thought of that! I used to live in France and would jump at the opportunity. But I tend to go in for meetings very last minute. I also need access to a good courier service and doing things from France could get costly very quickly. |
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| mochyn |
How about Shropshire? There are main line stations in (for example) Shrewsbury & Telford, whence trains connect with Wolverhampton & Birmingham for London. It's a very beautiful county with lots going on, near to Wales (best place in the world) but easy access to the real world too. If you look at North and West Shropshire you'll probably find prices lower than in the East and South of the county. | ||||||
| cab |
A 'few hours' to London, if you're willing to take the train, you should get something pretty okay not too far from a station. Look at the train network in East Anglia and up the East Coast as far as York; heck you can do Newcastle to Londnon in 3 hours on the train, so consider anywhere on the Metro up there a real possibility. |
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| woodsprite |
I'm not sure I'd recommend Shropshire Mochyn.  Having lived here for 18 years and having had to get down to London for castings/work etc, sometimes with a days notice, its very inconvenient and wildly expensive!!!  
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| Maxwell Smart |
Perfect! So you understand what I need to work to! |
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| woodsprite |
Oh yes MS, I understand very well indeed. 
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| Behemoth |
Anywhere in off the east coast main line. Plenty of market towns with character in a rural loaction, South Yorks through Lincolnshire, Notts etc. or around York, park and ride into the centre and off to London. | ||||||
| Behemoth |
Somewhere like this?
Not sure about the price though. http://www.primelocation.com/uk-property-to-rent/browse/all/uk/england/lincolnshire/grantham/HGRL999000103/ |
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| Behemoth |
Or this: http://forum.rivercottage.net/viewtopic.php?t=25947&highlight= | ||||||
| Maxwell Smart |
Thank Behemoth - that estate agent in that River Cottage link has some nice things.
But I would be wary of the cottage itself for the same reasons the current tenant is leaving... |
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| wizz |
As many folk have pointed out, the east coast main line is very good for London, and certainly doable if only once per week.
When we rented in Warwickshire we found a place through a land agent which was unusual and in a really nice little village. Have you thought about renting a place that is part of one of the country estates? Castle Howard often have places to rent, or closer to York the Escrick Park Estate (which falls within the Fulford school (a top comprehensive) catchment) Good luck! Wizz |
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| moonwind |
http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/leighton-buzzard/23279
Saw this, notice last line was Suit business let, some holiday places easily lend to become longer term lets. Just a thought This place gives quite a few rental agents. http://www.hertsbedsandbucks.com/Real_Estate/Property_Management/index.html good luck |
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| Maxwell Smart |
What's a "Land Agent"?
I didn't know you could do that. Is there a special way to find out about such rentals or are they through normal Estate Agents? Do you know of any which let closer to London? |
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| wizz |
land agents... I think they're basically folk with a background in chartered surveying and so I guess (i might be wrong) they often act as estate/rental agents but tend to look after the up keep country estates. (I'm sure someone can correct me if i'm wrong here!)
the escrick and castle Howard property lets are on their websites... so I guess it might work the same way for other estates - otherwise I guess you could look for a large country estate you like the look of and approach the estate direct to enquire if they have any rental property. wizz |
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| MarkS |
there is also the national trust. if you want something a bit different | ||||||
| gil |
Even quite small 'estates' (e.g. one large house, a handful of farms and a bit of woodland) will often have cottages for rent. This is because of the increased mechanisation of agriculture since such accommodation was built (days when even quite small farms had extra 2 cottages, one for the ploughman and one for the stockman), so that less labour is employed.
They may have an Estate Office from where the estate is managed on a day-to-day basis, which will deal with rentals. Round here, estate rentals are never advertised - you apply direct to the estate. In England, I would have thought that a 'county'-type solicitor for an area (say, round a market town) would know most of the local estates/landowners. You could also try the posher estate agents for lets, which sometimes double as land agents : Smiths Gore, Strutt and Parker, etc... Or get a copy of Country Life or one of the country property restoration/renovation mags, and get contacts from tehre. |
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| tahir |
Maxwell there are loads of places in Essex within 1-1.5 hrs drive, there was a nice cottage with 1 acre just round the corner to let for ages, just gone last week.
Areas to look for in Essex: Anywhere north of Billericay, even past Colchester will still be less than 2hrs, and the trains are pretty quick too. |
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| Barefoot Andrew |
It used to take me 1 hour 10 mins to get from Harlow to Chancery Lane... on a good day
A. |
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| Maxwell Smart |
An acre would be nice... not sure how realistic it is to try and find but trying to get some place with outbuildings that I can use as an office.
I would be happy with that! |
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| Barefoot Andrew |
But just 45 mins to get from Harlow to Cambridge, and it was twice the distance. A. |