Which type of home do you prefer!

I now live in my childhood home ( Dormer Bungalow) and it means everything to me, I cant put it into words, it isnt the layout, or the fact it has beautiful garden, it's just being "home", a feeling of completeness.

So I guess, it could be a mansion or a back-to-back, it's the inner contentment you feel.....

We are detached in the middle of nowhere surrounded by our own land.. lovely and quiet and a little bit cushioned from all the chaos and restrictions at the moment. Recently retired I am now going to be able to enjoy it properly after years of working all hours and having very little time at home. It is my haven, maybe I will have to move one day but not until I can’t manage any more.

We lived in various semi detached houses for 38 years moving to bigger ones as the family grew and we could afford a bigger house. Moved 4 years ago to a brand new 2nd floor 3 bedroom apartment. Love living on one floor we have a lift and a large balcony. No noise from other residents.
We are in very easy walking distance of the underground,buses, shops, pubs, restaurants and open green spaces.
Flat is easy to maintain and have no regrets.

I live in a semi which backs on to a beautiful park. I dont mind neighbours or a bit of noise and have been here since 76. It is far too much for me to manage now, the garden is huge but i just can't bare the thought of leaving here.

Having lived in a huge detached house for 40 years, if I decide to move now it would probably be to a flat. I would like a good view and sunshine streaming in. A garden is optional as long as I could have an allotment or a plot in a community garden.

We began married life in a top floor flat, moved to a 3 story town house, followed by a semi detached bungalow and then here.
Its position is perfect and I like the town and the people in it, but it's just too big now I am on my own..
I have been reading the thread with interest and was sad to see that some make mistakes and don't realise it until it's too late.

I really don’t mind as long as I have a manageable garden. I’ve lived in mostly semis but always had lovely neighbours which is important.

There is no way I would consider living in any other house than a detached one! I have had lifelong issues with sensitivity to noise, and discovered in 2004 that I have Asperger's Syndrome - this came about after my son, who was then a child, was diagnosed with the same condition! Also, I am not a very sociable person, and I absolutely hate the noise that other people make when they have visitors or parties! I have spent my whole life being socially distant from others because of my problems and have always done my level best to avoid all social events where there is likely to be consumption of alcohol and therefore, noise! I used to go out and walk the streets when my parents had visitors! These days, I go out in my car, often for hours and have even stayed out overnight!
My mother once said when I was a child that only a house in a field would suit me - she wasn't wrong!
In the last couple of years, I have had the misfortune to have to be admitted to hospital, and on both occasions, I was forced to discharge myself, as the other patients and the noise drove me off my trolley!
These days, with Covid, it's much easier to keep myself socially distant from others, which suits me just fine! I enjoy the company of my dog and 2 cats far more than the company of most people! I am nearly 64 now, so not much chance of me changing! I never got any help or support after I was diagnosed, unlike my son who has had lots of help over the years! However, my son doesn't like noisy social events either, but he does have much better coping skills than I do!

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 .............

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?

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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!)

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'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!

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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.