Escape to the Country sometimes seems unfinished/

The presenter often says at the end “we’ve had a good week”, yet it appears, from other things said, that the 3 (sometimes 4) houses visited were over 2 days! The section at the beginning where the people wishing to move stand outside their existing property, chatting and looking very awkward - so corny!!

I quite like the beginning bit at their existing property because it tells whether they are upsizing or downsizing, or swapping to a nicer area for less money, or simply having a dramatic lifestyle change. Occasionally I think to myself, "you're bonkers not to consider how good you've got it in your existing place compared with your unrealistic dreams"!

keepingquiet

I stopped watching years ago. I got tired of people wanting paddocks, inglenooks, good schools and a sense of community etc etc.

I couldn't figure out how so many young couples had so much money, and was jealous of older ones who also had small fortunes.

It all seemed too fake.

Yes.......all that and the fact that people seem to appear on the show to simply show-off with how much money they have to actually spend on a house.

“Oh, look at the view, imagine waking up to that every day” - having lived in a very beautiful but very remote place for many years, I can tell them that wonderful views do not a wonderful life make. And those who supposedly want to live in the country, but think a house that’s a mile to the nearest shop is “a bit remote” just do my head in! They live in la-la land so many of them.

I just looking inside the homes, but I do get cross if they don't buy the one I like.

I don’t understand them talking about the parties and entertaining they’re going to do in their new property. Given that they’ve never lived in the area before who’s going to them?

yes, there are so many WOW's when they find they get change back from £500,000

Some of the houses seen in this programme are fabulous & located in some very remote yet picturesque areas but being stuck in the back of beyond is absolutely no fun & quite disturbing. As a young couple we brought a place in the sticks but it was so isolated & my husband worked odd hours. More often than not I was alone with a baby & every noise or knock on the door gave me the willies.
We moved pronto to a bustling town & have never regretted it. Furthermore, the isolated house is now surrounded by new builds.🤔

I always like the Cornish ones. All those people who want a character cottage and are then appalled to find that "character" means small windows. low ceilings, probably no mains gas, but it will have a septic tank. The couples who are intending to work (rather than running a Wellness Centre} have very unrealistic ideas about travel. I've seen someone with a job lined up in Helston while looking at houses around Bude. I find myself saying "Don't you realise what those roads are like in the summer?"

The new format of the programme annoys me. They only show 3 properties, one of which is the "mystery house", and so likely doesn't meet all or any of their criteria. So, that leaves them with a choice of two. They fill the rest of the programme visiting breweries/orchards/farmers markets. I would rather see 4 properties!

Yes Deedaa, you really have to think long & hard before moving house, particularly if it's in an area your unfamiliar with & just fancy or if you're only visited out of season when the place is uncharacteristically quiet. I was set on moving to a place I really wanted to start anew in but luckily I stumbled upon the crime figures for that area. They showed that violent crime was terrifically high & that burglary ect was endemic!
Thank goodness I found out before up-rooting! 🤔

GrandmaKT

The new format of the programme annoys me. They only show 3 properties, one of which is the "mystery house", and so likely doesn't meet all or any of their criteria. So, that leaves them with a choice of two. They fill the rest of the programme visiting breweries/orchards/farmers markets. I would rather see 4 properties!

Couldn't agree more GrandmaKT, the programme is so airy-fairy now!
Yes, & who cares if there's a place nearby that knits it's own bloomin yoghurt, milks it's own bees ect! Like you I just want to nose at property porn. (Excuse the expression, I have son's!!!) 🙃

Yes, that gets on my wick as well.
I just want to check out each and every room, look inside the cupboards, check if people can stand up properly under the beams, and admire their views.

I suppose the outcome depends on the participants informing the programme makers of their final decision.
I wonder how many just go along for the experience and are not really serious about moving to the country.
Some seem to turn their noses up at everything shown to them.
Still like seeing the properties though.

My DS was on Location and bought the flat they were shown. The programme was very true to how it went with both Kirsty and Phil. They revisited 3 years later.

dragonfly46

My DS was on Location and bought the flat they were shown. The programme was very true to how it went with both Kirsty and Phil. They revisited 3 years later.

That's good.
K & P appear to be masters at the art of negotiating. We used a few of their tactics when dealing with the estate agent - namely offer the full asking price and insist it comes off the market immediately.
Escape to the Country doesn't touch on that side of things, so there doesn't feel the same urgency to it.

It always amuses me when someone states they want to be within a 30 minute commute from a specific town/city.

The presenter cheerfully says that the property is only a 20 minute drive from x. Sometimes it's been an area I know and I think Blimey. Who are you kidding? The traffic is dire and it will take an hour at least.

Another time, with Kirsty and Phil, the wife wanted to be within a 10 minute walk of a mainline train station. As it happened, the presenter was showing an area I know very well because my grammar school was there. The hill from the station is very steep. I walked up that hill to school every day from the age of 11 and had the calf muscles to match. It's not a prospect most people would fancy in all weathers after a hard day at work.

MissAdventure

I just looking inside the homes, but I do get cross if they don't buy the one I like.

So do I and I get even crosser if they pick it and then arrange a second viewing even though their own home isn’t even on the market.

I haven’t watched it for ages, but when I used to, I often thought that the couple just wanted to be on telly.

The presenter cheerfully says that the property is only a 20 minute drive from x. Sometimes it's been an area I know and I think Blimey. Who are you kidding? The traffic is dire and it will take an hour at least.

Oh yes. And round here that's an hour at 3 o'clock in the morning when there's hardly any traffic on the road!

Annoying when they have to sell their own property. Have they even put it on the market? Perhaps that should be explained at the beginning of the programme as someone might be interested in buying and the viewer would know just how serious they are. Sometimes think their criticisms are because they are not serious buyers.

I think most people in Escape to the Country are just following a personal dream. they all want entertaining kitchens, as if everyboy had advert type gatherings every week when 20 people gather round the AGA drinking home made soup from potttery mugs made locally.

They all seem to want to run a self-sufficiency small holding with chickens and pigs and fruit and vegetables - and they are all on the brink of retirement. - and they all want to be in the heart of the countryside miles from shops, doctors, hospitals, trains etc etc. lovely for the first 10 years, but then the arthritis and tiredness sets in and you no longer have the strength to wrestle a pig into a trailer, and everything gets out of hand.

Some friends of DH's did it, inorder to look at any area they were thinking of, but after seeing the area, decided against it and bought a rural property but in another part of the country.

Wrestle a pig into a trailer. That did make me laugh M0nica.

I quite enjoyed today’s, in a beautiful area of West Yorkshire, until at the end it was revealed that the escapee has not yet sold her house, so her offer on the mystery house is somewhat academic.

Yes, Cabbie21, I saw today's episode. I thought the friend had a lot to say for herself!