Do you want to die in a bungalow?

This thread relates to the GNHQ blog post

"Blogs
Don't tell me what I want."

B*** MPS trying to tell us what we want.

Mind you right now with my dysfunctional right arm I am seriously thinking I might just need a small bungalow with a modest garden. As one week on from shoulder surgery I still feel this is as good as it will get. Think positive NellieM. FGS give it a chance.

I still can't stop worrying about Greatnan though.

Quite right absent.
I yearned for one of those 1930's bungalows, surrounded by an easy to care for garden - it's a fantasy where I live, unless you have very much more money than I do. We decided to stay put, improved and extended our own home. We're a minute away from the bus stop, have a library, supermarket, good GP on the doorstep. We put in a downstairs shower room in case the stairs are ever a problem. I hope to stay here for ever.
Aka, no rule I know of preventing dogs in bungalows, but very few elderly people's homes will allow dogs. We took mum's dog in to visit her in the nursing home assessment unit, 3 days before she died. That reunion is something I re-live, often. I apologise if I confused bungalows and dogs. It's just I'd have loved a bungalow, and never want to be separated from my dogs.

Surely suggesting that more pensioners want to die in a bungalow is counter productive. Pensioners are no keener on dying than anyone else. Suggesting that they might like to live in one would be more encouraging. These politicians are all fools, bores and loonies.

"Do You Want To Die in a Bungalow" - I can't see any of the major house builders adopting this as a sales slogan, can you?

I am also reminded of the nickname "Bungalow Bill" - not too much upstairs!

Planning authorities are trying to achieve higher densities not lower ones these days. Developers have to meet their demands and also make a profit No chance of a minister-inspired outbreak of bungalow building under these circumstances.

This is the most amusing thread I've read in ages! What on earth is wrong with a bungalow?! Where I'm originally from, "bungalows" often have 3 or more bedrooms, double garage etc. And large gardens. And usually more than one bathroom or toilet. Oh yes and wrap-around verandahs.

What a funny old world this is. I now live in a tiny 2 up 2 down and I miss my bungalow.

Having just read through all the posts for and against smaller properties/bungalows I am still of the opinion that we made the right decision to move to our one bedroom apartment,our family home which we sold before we moved abroad was massive with 4 downstairs living rooms and a huge kitchen 4 beds and two bathrooms thats without all the outside land that was attached,yes we did find it hard ajusting but £ for £ the bills are a 1/4 of what we paid in the family home which by the way had 3 empty bedrooms except for 1 week at Christmas and possibly during summer,we don't have to pay for the upkeep of the outside every 2 years and the enormous window cleaning bill every 2 weeks.
Every room is decorated to modern taste giving a light and airy feel and there are no old carpets that need to be replaced every few years as we laid clean and attractive wood flooring,all I would like now is to move from 1st floor into a bungalow two Roads away from me and to decorate in the same style but so many people want them I feel I will never be lucky enough to get one. (oh and we are allowed our little JR dog in our apartment & in the bungalow's we are interested in )

I lived in a bedsit when I was 19. It was a single room on the attic floor of a Victorian house in Manchester. I had no fridge and I had to cook on a Baby Belling. I shared a bathroom and toilet with the other inhabitants oif the house - there were 9 flats altogether.
I loved it - the feeling that it was mine, I could do exactly as I wanted in it, and it contained all my possessions (except, of course, the stuff I had left at Mum and Dad's.)
Although I have no wish or intention from moving from our 4 bedroomed, spacious Dutch bungalow with large gardens front and back, and certainly not at the behest of any government minister, I can see that at a distant point in the future the simple life may once again appeal.
At the moment, that distant point feels like 30 years away, when I hope I'll be 94

Mishap, are you really saying that the sort of bungalow that the politicians are promoting would appeal to you? Small kitchen, small lounge, one bedroom? Oh, and they have also said that the elderly should move into towns, to be near the services they need, so you can probably add "no garden" to the list.
No, they haven't actually spelt that out, but their reasoning doesn't leave much doubt!

Oh but bungalows are lovely - they really appeal to me. Gally - what are you waiting for!? Bungalows are not just for the elderly!

I have heard politicians come out with this bungalow bunkum quite a few times recently. What really annoys me are the so-called reasons that they give.

Firstly, bungalows, as many have already said, come in all sizes, but the politicians clearly have something very small in mind, otherwise there would be no freeing up of family-size homes.

Secondly, building land is at a premium, and bungalows are surely the most uneconomic use of that land.

Do people cease to have family when they get older? Don't the majority still want a home that is big enough to allow for family life - enough space to seat more than two visitors at a time; somewhere for the grandchildren or other visitors to sleep; a garden to potter in, or where the family pet (or grandchildren) can roam?

I wonder, what sort of a life would any of us grandparents have if we were to move into the sort of boxes that they apparently envisage for us!

So why are they spouting this bunkum? My guess, all part of an attempt to justify their bedroom tax policy - which in turn they try to justify on the grounds of reducing under-occupation.
If they genuinely wanted to do anything about freeing up family-sized homes, firstly they would extend the bedroom tax to pensioners on housing benefit, not just those of working age. Secondly, they would do something that would also affect many private home owners: put an end to the council-tax reductions for those who live alone homes with "spare" rooms. Tell me, what is that if a not "spare room subsidy"? But will they? Pigs might fly!

Sounds better than OK to me Gally ! Drinks round the pool?

Let's rephrase this - I personally would rather live in a house/ flat/ bungalow or just about anywhere than die in any of them. (Although I'm not sure about wanting to live in Care Homes or Geriatric wards - so maybe popping my clogs would be preferable after all.

I live in a rather rambling bungalow, with plenty of garden and wild life. I would like stairs as when I stay with DD1who lives in a flat with two floors I find my hips and knees improve although it's very tiring. I also have help inthe house and garden and now rely on it. I do wonder how I would feel if I didn't have the reliable trustworthy help that I have now. I have cars and a relatively close bus stop with a good service. I do get tired of maintenance and part of me would like to move to a serviced flat in time. I have seen too many acquaintance in beautiful period houses which start to rot around them when they stop noticing the depradations of time.

I have half heartedly been looking at some properties in DD1's village. I have drawn up a list of my requirements which includes, not modern, not on an estate and not a bungalow. So, I went to see a modern bungalow on a small estate of some 10 properties. It is so sensible; powered by solar panels + extra to sell; has 4 good sized bedrooms, big living area and kitchen and, piece de resistance, a swimming pool in the garden. Why can't I get enthusiastic about it? I think it's the thought of being on one level and that's what old people do don't they, and I'm not old, am I - yet?

We like to call our bungalow a single storey cottage as it's a converted farm worker's dwelling and has beams, brick fireplace and lots of quirky features. Whenever the word bungalow is used people think of the boxy 'between the wars' dwellings that cropped up all over the place and had a reputation for being boring and featureless.

We downsized from a five bedroom farmhouse that went with DH's job. We've never regretted the decision not to buy a house instead. We are in our mid sixties and suffer from all the joint problems that age brings. Some of our guttering needs repairing after Monday's storm so DH and a friend will be able to tackle it tomorrow. Repairs and maintenance are so much easier and cheaper when you don't live in a house.

The idea of having to leave in a geriatric ghetto probably puts people off more than the prospect of downsizing itself.

I'm a bit fed up with government telling us all where we should live.

Having said that I have always loved bungalows!

I always used to like living in a flat in the pre-DC days (BC??) as I felt one used the whole area much more than having bedrooms upstairs and living space down stairs, so a bungalow sounds like another version of the same thing. I think location is the issue as Tegan says - good transport links, a (little) bit of one's own outdoor space and hopefully a pleasant situation not too far from shops/library/GP etc. Is that too much to ask? Probably!

I currently live in a house with 3 sets of stairs, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, dining room, kitchen, lounge, study and conservatory. I live alone. I do love my house but accept that a time may come when I won't be able to live here. There are some rooms which I only go into once a week to dust and hoover. I used to live in a large 3 bed bungalow and found it very easy to take care of.

I see nothing wrong in asking builders to build more bungalows or smaller properties. I don't think anyone is suggesting that we should all be forced into ghettos of elderly people where we could all sit watching daytime TV waiting to die. I think having a smaller home to take care of would leave people more time to enjoy all their hobbies.

I live in a bungalow, I did not downsize, just the opposite, Its 50ft X 30ft set in 1/4 acre. I can have any pet I choose.
I just find it easier to live my life to the full with no stairs, having a few joint problems

A lot of the time thought doesn't go into purpose built homes for the elderly. There is a complex near to my daughter that I would love to move to one day; semi deteched bungalows in a pretty village. However, most of them are empty. The reason is that they the village is not on a frequent bus route. Several people have told me that they moved there only to find that they could no longer drive and were trapped in the village. Also, no private gardens, just a large communal one; no good if you have a pet dog or cat. My house is several yards from a bus stop where buses are every 1/2 to 1 hour 24/7 so there is no way that I'd move. Also, a lot of bungalows cost as much, even more as a house as they take up just as much room. This is at a time when councils are still pulling down beautiful old terrace houses. Oh and the local council flats for the elderly are on two floors, the stairs are quite steep and there are no lifts. The bungalows they build there are lovely with nice gardens. However when we tried to move my father in law there many years ago we had a devil of a job getting them to agree as he lived in a different area. They finally agreed but he died before we could move him.

Thank you Aka, but I wasn't referring to the OP, just to the Gov. and media in general.

No, I am not saying there is anything wrong with bungalows per se, for people of all ages they are the dwelling of choice. It is the assumption that that is all older people want - and the implication that it is greedy and selfish of us to want anything else.

Remember that what the minister has in mind for us is not the spacious family bungalows of old, with big rooms and surrounded by lawns. He wants us all in bijou little residences with 2, or if you are lucky, 3 poky little rooms, minute kitchen and shower room, no baths, we are all too crippled to get in and out of a bath, with a garden, well, backyard, so small that if you open the backdoor too fast you will knock down the rear fence. Old people, find caring for a garden too much for them, will be the reasoning. They will not have garages and limited parking - we are all too old and disabled to drive. All that is needed is parking for our carers.

Of course I realise that for some very elderly or disabled people this will be ideal, I said so in my last post, but behind these suggestions is the convenient official assumption that once you reach retirement age you shed all your possessions, all your activities and hobbies and retreat into your shell like a tortoise and wait for death

Do these pundits not have an older generation in their own families? Do their parents live in properties like those they are recommending for us plebs?

No one is 'telling you what's good for you' Lona. Someone is merely suggesting that builders provide more smaller properties.

How do we know what 'the vast majority of pensioners want'?
I'm another who will be downsizing, I couldn't manage otherwise, and I would like to see more small properties.

I am fed up with being told what's good for me though!