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Post by vtchuck on Jan 4, 2019 22:37:11 GMT
We are addicted to this TV show. I know its very likely unrealistic "real estate porn", but we have some questions for those in the UK.
We've figured out that a snug is what we would call a den, and reception rooms are living rooms, wood burners are wood stoves and the first floor is actually the second.
We've wondered why many homes have no front lawn, but rather are covered with gravel or stone. And what about ranges? They look like massive enameled cast things
with multiple ovens? Are they wood fired...or gas? They seem to be in kitchens that already have what is a conventional kitchen stove, i.e. cook top / oven combination.
And how is it that every property seems to be a short walk to a historic pub? No fair! I want that near my home.
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Jem
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Post by Jem on Jan 6, 2019 9:31:06 GMT
Haha, well, you have just about mastered the lingo. I know the programme of which you speak. It's highly unrealistic I know, but I get drawn in once it starts. But the really addictive UK property programme is 'Homes Under the Hammer'...stay away from that or you'll lose quite a few hours of your life. It's a more down to earth version of this and shows a more realistic take on property buying.
A 'snug' is generally estate agent speak for tiny little room where you might hang your Barbour and £150 wellies (often in a cottage that was an artisan dwelling back in the day, but now fetching close to £1 million) the only time you might hear it used in everyday speech is in reference to a pub room generally off from the main bar (around these parts anyway)
The enamelled double range (Aga being the most common) are run by either an oil supply in a tank beside the house, regular mains gas and maybe wood back burner powered(?). I am not totally clued up on these but a friend has one and bizarrely they are on all the time (literally they do not turn off). My take on that is that in a fairly big farm house kitchen in days gone by, with poor draft proofing and single glazed windows , and the stone flag floors it would make this not such a crazy concept, and in the winter perhaps the only source of heat besides an open fire place in the next room- so would warm the upstairs chimney breasts too. (the Aga is a very contentious political piece of kitchen furniture and it could spark a class war in some communities in the UK)
The wood burners/stoves are often multi-fuel now (ie coal/smokeless coal/wood/pellets/peat) but the 'wood burner' is again a more attractive term for the estate agents, after all if you pay close to £1million to live in the country you want some wood smoke. In much the same way that vine ripened hand picked sweet cherry tomatoes are still tomatoes ,but sound somewhat better. And we all like the idea of a wood store pile beside the house. A coal bunker is a little more working class and reminiscent of the industrialised areas.
And as for local village pubs...they are declining rapidly, but on that programme they do all seem to want to be within a few mins of a local real ale, 300 year old pub with a thriving community don't they?
These places still exist, and the parish church bells ring on a Sunday (and one night of the week for practise ), cricket is played on Sunday , May Day celebrations around the pole still take place with local schools dancing, a red phone box still adorns the main corner (albeit without a phone in) and there are some thatched cottages with roses and hollyhocks in the front garden that look unchanged since 1870. These places look great while riding your bike through them in the summer.
And finally the front lawn/paved issue. A lot of people around here seem to want to get their car right up to the house to park, and also were growing tired of mowing front and back lawns because they had to bring a mower down an entry way to get to the front. Apparently this has quite an impact on localised flooding and such like, as all the run off water hits the drains at the same time from all these paved front lawns.
Apologies in advance for any UK members who I may have offended in this post...it's a mine-field and I tried not to be too judgemental in my opinions.
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robt
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Post by robt on Jan 6, 2019 15:22:36 GMT
Happy New Year everyone!
Well, Jem, you’ve set the bar for the route for DFR7. A cosy snug in the pub, Cricket and a maypole on the village green, thatched cottages, freshly mown lawns, red phone boxes, woodsmoke rising lazily from chimneys and carrying on the wind into the nostrils of passing cyclists... We’ll be promising ruddy-cheeked local bobbies on SA-equipped sit-up-and-beg bikes next! I predict that Dracco will assure us that these and more are available at every turn in God’s own County of Yorkshire.
Some friends of mine (Sue & Paul from Maidenhead) featured once on Escape to the Country, looking for a house in Derbyshire. They say that it was good fun, but it became difficult to keep the surprised face when you walk into a room for the fourth take. I think they had to edit Paul’s response when they told him the asking price for the ‘mystery property’!
So, the customary New Year question - when and where for DFR2019? Single day trip as last year, or a whole weekend away? What time of year? Should we try a tie-up with the UCI Worlds in Yorkshire in late September as recently proposed?
I’ll open a thread...
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Jem
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Post by Jem on Jan 6, 2019 21:07:17 GMT
Happy New Year everyone! Well, Jem, you’ve set the bar for the route for DFR7. A cosy snug in the pub, Cricket and a maypole on the village green, thatched cottages, freshly mown lawns, red phone boxes, woodsmoke rising lazily from chimneys and carrying on the wind into the nostrils of passing cyclists... We’ll be promising ruddy-cheeked local bobbies on SA-equipped sit-up-and-beg bikes next! I predict that Dracco will assure us that these and more are available at every turn in God’s own County of Yorkshire. Some friends of mine (Sue & Paul from Maidenhead) featured once on Escape to the Country, looking for a house in Derbyshire. They say that it was good fun, but it became difficult to keep the surprised face when you walk into a room for the fourth take. I think they had to edit Paul’s response when they told him the asking price for the ‘mystery property’! So, the customary New Year question - when and where for DFR2019? Single day trip as last year, or a whole weekend away? What time of year? Should we try a tie-up with the UCI Worlds in Yorkshire in late September as recently proposed? I’ll open a thread... Happy New Year Rob. Did your friends buy any of the properties they were shown? Let's start a DFR '19 thread off and see what people are thinking? |
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robt
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Post by robt on Jan 6, 2019 22:05:25 GMT
Jem,
They didn’t buy any of the properties they were shown during the recording, but have said that the programme helped them to identify the very nice property that they did buy about a year later.
See ‘Death Fork Rallies...’ section for new thread DFR7 (2019).
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Post by sprockit on Jan 8, 2019 8:37:18 GMT
. . . A cosy snug in the pub, Cricket and a maypole on the village green, thatched cottages, freshly mown lawns, red phone boxes, woodsmoke rising lazily from chimneys and carrying on the wind into the nostrils of passing cyclists... We’ll be promising ruddy-cheeked local bobbies on SA-equipped sit-up-and-beg bikes next! I predict that Dracco will assure us that these and more are available at every turn in God’s own County of Yorkshire. . . . Yes, lots of these, and more, available in abundance - and not only in Yorkshire, but also over the border into Lancashire! |
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Post by dracco on Feb 19, 2019 19:08:03 GMT
Catching up on this one!
My village certainly has a red telephone box (right next to the village stocks, in which felons were detained for the amusement of the honest burghers) and handy for one of the (two) pubs selling real ale...only now the phone box contains a defibrillator (sign of the times, and probably a useful feature for the touring MAMILs who manage to finish the (actually not very steep) haul up the main street.
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Jem
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Post by Jem on Feb 19, 2019 19:15:54 GMT
Ok, I'm going to bite...what are MAMILs?
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Post by cusqueno on Feb 19, 2019 20:46:56 GMT
Ok, I'm going to bite...what are MAMILs? Middle Aged Men In Lycra. None of those here! |
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Post by blackwizard on Feb 21, 2019 8:31:06 GMT
I'm currently stopping with my father for a few weeks and he lives in 2 bedroomed cottage in a village. We have an Aga, perfect for curing a saddle I dyed in the bottom oven, heating new tyres which were a bit tight and drying the bike infront of after a wet ride. We have a log burning stove in the living room and a stone paved area to the front as opposed to grass which is inpractical as my father is 84 and it rains a lot so is effectively maintainence free. The village pub is the heart of the community and sits 3 doors away, all to handy and easy to get a pint of hand pulled cask beer from to take home for dinner. The red phone box has now taken on a new identity and is home to a defribulator but still sits there and the red post box is next to the village barbers shop and small memorial garden. Despite these programs portraying an idylic village life there are still some communities left and this one is testemony to that, real people with real lives and all that goes with it.
One slight negative is from a cycling point of view the place is on a hill, every ride is either up or down and whilst my fitness improves it blooming well hurts, there are no pottles around here, just hard cycling.........LOL
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