Which type of home do you prefer!

I should add that I did eventually have the operation and thankfully it was a great success so I’m still driving!

We moved to a smallish detached bungalow a couple of years ago, and we love it. It has been converted to a chalet bungalow by the previous owners, who were local builders, and the work done, especially the kitchen are of a very high standard. It ticks all our boxes, small garden, not overlooked, off street parking and a log burner. Nothing is perfect though, it’s not a particularly nice road and there are a lot of parked cars, but nothing’s perfect! Nice neighbours too, and walking distance to a village.

I live in a old cottage, much admired by friends but my dream house is a detached ultra modern ‘box’. Unfortunately not DH’s dream. We only have neighbours on one side but over the years some have been a pain, they are fine at the moment.

I do find the bedrooms are cold in a bungalow, compared with a house where heat rises upwards. However, now I find stairs hard work I am content to have cold bedrooms and its a huge bonus during summer week.

Have detached, now too big for us, in small country village ten minutes drive from all amenities so considered moving as getting older and creakier.
Covid arrived and showed us we were much better off than many friends in urban areas who could not easily access help/support or online deliveries. It's not the type of house you live in that matters, it's your neighbours and the community.
But we probably won't be able to drive for ever......

I grew up in a modern detached house in a little village and went from there to a 500 year old detached farmhouse in the middle of fields when I got married 40 years ago so, apart from 2 university years in a city semi, I've got nothing to compare a detached house to. As we get older, we keep talking about moving to somewhere within walking distance of amenities but we'd still want a detached house with a garden in a reasonably quiet location. It's lovely living here, especially at the moment, with plenty of opportunities for walks , beautiful views and a lovely garden but it's down a long drive off a very minor road which is off a slightly less minor road etc so not so handy as we age & maybe stop driving.

Yes old houses with character are nice if
a) You are fit and capable of all the necessary maintenance or
b) You can afford to pay for the work to be done.
If I went on a programme such as Escape to the Country I would specify, no log burner, no listed building, no conservatory.

I prefer a detached because I don’t like to hear neighbours noise (I’ve had it in the past) and because I have two lovely, well behaved Toy Poodles who, like many small dogs, enjoy the sound of their own voices! It’s better for all if there is a gap between our house and others. A garden is important to me too.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I've always dreamed of ye olde cottage with roses round the door and it must have a garden - I think my heart would break if I had to live without one. It would have to be near amenities or a bus stop if I could no longer drive.

I don't think I've ever lived in the perfect house as there's usually a little niggle. We started off in a flat, then an old mid-terrace, new terrace, old semi, 1950s bungalow with heavenly garden. When I lost my DH I downsized to a new build end terrace with off road parking near to bus stops.

Within walking distance two of my favourite cottages have come on the market within the last year and If I had a spare half million I could buy one of them!

Definitely alters as we go through life stages. Now both retired, my husband having renovated 5 houses and “been there and done that” and with me having allergies to all things flowers wise , we are now in our dream seafront apartment in the West Country. No maintenance, no security issues, no garden but a lovely balcony to people watch from and French doors to balcony giving us a 24/7 view of the sea coming in and out and all of the daily sea sports to enjoy.
We are truly “in our special place”.

I too have heard the idea that you shouldn't move to a bungalow 'because stairs are good exercise' and have to say that I disagree.
I suggest getting your exercise in all sorts of other ways.
If something happens to cause you a problem in getting upstairs - and it happens even if you have been exercising by running up and down - then you have to deal with installing a stairlift / moving furniture at the very least - at a time you don't want extra bother.
I do agree with walking sideways - and backwards - and I do both (though not myself a good advert!)

We have lived in all types of houses from a Victorian house in Glasgow, a cottage in the highlands to a bungalow in Surrey. 3 years ago when we retired we moved to Edinburgh from Surrey to a modern 4 bed detached. It is close to all amenities, 20 mins on bus to centre of Edinburgh, 2km to beach, 5 mins to M&S, everything on our doorstep and a quiet location, no repairs to worry about and enough space for family and friends. Detached every time.

Definitely a detached for me but as we look to downsize, we might find that restricts us as we want a bungalow. They are as expensive as the house we are looking to sell so it would be a massive hit to our savings. We have looked at flats but worry about noise from others so it would have to be the Penthouse. That would worry my husband though that we were making too much noise!

We sold up 2 years ago after living in a small detached bungalow in the perfect location. We always knew we would never get the same sort of location again, shops, take aways, Doctors, petrol stations etc at bottom of a quiet cul de sac, with the South Downs at the top of the road and views of the sea which was 8 minutes drive! We moved to Devon because we wanted a change, I now realise what we needed was a holiday not a move. We have a lovely house but in a position where we have to drive even for a pint of milk. If I could turn back time I’d do one of two things...firstly URMSTONGRAN ....exactly as you have done, good for you it sounds idyllic...or secondly and with hindsight stay exactly where we were, we had the bungalow as we wanted it and didn’t realise how lucky we were. We have now sold and shortly will be moving to a well positioned semi detached cottage, it’s not my dream home but hopefully I can settle there as it’s got shops, amenities, Doctors etc within 10 minutes walk, let’s hope the neighbours are quiet too.

I was born in a bungalow - my parents' first house. After three moves they bought a lovely bungalow as their final home, although my dad only lived a couple more years to enjoy it. As a student l shared a terraced house, which was fun and gave me my first taste of independence. When we first married, we had a 1930s semi. In addition to two bay windows there was a big, beautiful stained glass window halfway up the stairs. I still have a soft spot for 1930s houses. As the family grew, we moved to a 1980s detached house - about ten years old when we bought it. It had also had the integral garage converted and this is what sold the house for us as l have always used it as my music room for giving lessons. The living room window has a bay window - there was a revival of bay windows in the late eighties. Even though the children are grown up l love this house and do not have to move.

Detached and no neighbours. Quiet road. Off road parking. Birdsong. Trees. A bit shabby, but home.

If I had the money it would be a Lytens designed house along the lines of Munsted Wood or really I suppose Orchards as I love Arts and Craft style.

I would definitely need the garden to go with it as well, and enough money to run it as it all should be run and looked after.

As I can’t afford such a grand house I will settle for a happy home?

Well.. I now live in a one bed retirement flat ........having lived through the years in a : terraced house, a bedsit in London, a 2 bed flat; a bungalow in the country; back to a semi in Essex, a detached also in Essex, a detached again in Nottingham, a villa in Spain, a huge old house in Brittany and a bungalow in the S West of France ......so really in every type of house (apart from a mansion !) .....I would have bought another bungaow, BUT on my own now at 73, for security and because I had loads of travel booked for last year (!) and then for this year (!) I chose this place when I returned from France for the security, not having to ask somebody to keep an eye on it, not to have to do the garden or the maintenance as being on my own I would not know who to trust to get in ! BUT it is in a seaside town in the N E (somewhere I never lived before, but which I absolutely LOVE) could have gone anywhere ...but I haven't driven in the UK for 21 years so I needed transport, taxis, all of which I now have within 5 minutes and the Metro, as well as an international airport, a ferry terminal and a fast train service ...so, having weighed all that up, yes, I think, if I weren't worried about lonlieness and isolation I would have preferred a bungalow with a garden if I could have foreseen lockdown ....and a pussy cat !!! I could still move to a bungalow but again, would be worried about security, and would certainly, getting older, NOT want to move to the country again ....isolation, lack of services, banks, transport ...we all get old and need to factor in what happens if we cannot drive, there is no transport, other services ....then we are stuck ! Really depends on your age and your support network .............

I currently live in a link-detached bungalow in a small village with no shops, bus service etc. As the garden is large, we don't feel restricted, and have good neighbours both opposite and next door. It is fairly quiet, as the road loops round on itsself, so only people living in the village come past.
We are moving very soon to a similar property in a similar village in the North of Scotland. The village we are moving to has a harbour and a beach, and sea views from the back of the property. We are hoping to make new friends there. Having lived in terrace houses, and flats, I appreciate the quiet of a detached property, but there advantages to each, I find. It really depends upon your own needs and interests. I love the countryside, but needed to live in a City for work when I was younger. We are fortunate if circumstances allow us a choice.

If we move again i want a lovely old Listed house, like our current one, but in the centre of a small country town, with lots of similar aged properties, close to amenities and with a small garden and off street parking.

We have one or two towns in mind and keep an eye on them.

We are living in a semi detached house which, When we bought it had an elderly man living on his own next door. He died and in the spring a family moved in with three children. Two boys of 8 and 6 and a girl of 4. The oldest boy has the loudest voice I've ever heard, the two boys fight all the time and the girl squeals because they tease her. One of our upstairs bedrooms has become unusable because it is the bedroom the three children share (it's a two bedroom house, ours is four because we have an extension) and the garden has become a noisy playground. The wild pheasants and deer have disappeared from our garden and now we think they are building a tree house having cut down a beautiful, huge yew by the hedge. I dream of a detached house, we used to live in one and it was wonderful.

....that should be because it is adjacent to the room the three children share......

Lived in flats, 2 terraced houses moved to a lovely village near market town in Yorkshire into a semi detached great walks, near the coast, gps, dentist, village shop/post office on a bus route and a village pub.This is bliss and our forever home.

Detached, no problem with noisy neighbours and in a part of the country where sea, beach, hills and moors are on the doorstep. Although we’d can’t go anywhere in the car at the moment there are wooded areas nearby to enjoy a walk. Have lived in terraced and semi detached in the past but would not consider anything other than a detached property again if we were to move, which according to DH is not going to happen!