Coast or Country and the like, why................

I often say to DH when watching these programmes 'where do they get the money?' And when they go into a huge kitchen and say 'it's a bit small'. They should see our little galley kitchen. It's all relative I suppose.

OH watches all of those type of program I've long since stopped watching for the same reason. It's almost like a boasting show, "look how much we've got to spend".
Don't the makers realise that it turns most people off.

I'm guessing if you're going to relocate to your forever home, and have the available funds, you might as well splash the cash in a big way.
I'm the opposite, Kk in that spending £50 - 60k on an apartment in Spain seems pointless and I turn those programmes off.

I'd love a program about returning to the city! Back to public transport,shops being able to walk to the doctors etc and concerts libraries and close to family.

Snap! I can never understand just why people would want to go on t.v. looking for their new homes? Maybe they are showing off or maybe just plain lazy? Who knows? Do they get any financial incentives? I also wonder about the people selling? Don't mind people criticising my taste, but in front of potentially tens of thousands of viewers? ...preferably not!

I think it's for a free holiday and the chance to snoop round other people's homes.

Yes £200,00 to £400,000 would be more realistic for most peoples budgets, but then there is a lot of money around and they want to showcase all types of houses and house budgets I suppose.
I like looking at the decor for ideas and also the gardens.

I love these programmes. I suspect people do it because it's interesting. I love seeing the houses and flats. Phil and Kirsty are very entertaining.

My DH agrees withh you loopyloo We were watching one recently where a couple were looking for something somewhere in the Caribbean. They didn't see anything they liked and my DH said 'free holiday'.

Love these programmes about locating to different parts of the country. I want to live just about everywhere that I've seen. Does give me a giggle when some folks dismiss a barn of a place as being too small, I just think how much cleaning I would need to do! My wants would be no stairs, no sloping ceilings, no beams as I'm quite tall and plenty space for my chooks and other animals. Oh, and no thatched roofs. I have the irrational idea that it would be heaving with bugs and even more bugs. Nice to dream though ?

We find it hard to believe that these people find it so difficult to spend £900,000 and think that Phil & Kirsty have such an easy job! Can't they look for a house for themselves? And, does anyone ever say, I looked at this before..... Do the couples concerned never do any homework for themselves?

We are obsessed now with watching people view houses that we can't afford and they aren't going to buy, like the food porn shows, all rubbish and about showing off. We are becoming a nation of voyeurs.

I couldn't agree more, KateyK. Not that I'm jealous you understand but have you noticed that the higher the budget the more ghastly the houses they visit?
I expect that the smaller, charming cottages which are more to my taste are cheaper - but sadly still way beyond my means.
Enormous houses (with a few exceptions) just don't look cosy to my mind but then we're all different aren't we?

I think there have been one or rwo instances where the couple have said they'd viewed the property before, floorflock, but that's all.
I still watch Phil and! Kirsty but stopped watching the others. They all say exactly the same things - I would be waiting for them to say ''I want to keep chickens'' or ''I want to get a dog and go for long walks'' or ''I want to grow my own veg and join in with the community' - so boring.
I wish someone would say they wanted to start a witches covern or set up a house of Ill repute for the villagers!

We're always aghast at the acreage they demand on Escape to the Country. Do these idiots have any idea how much hard work and money goes into maintaining large gardens, paddocks and fields?

I also don't understand why, having demanded the above, they then get shown a converted bakery in the middle of a village with a tiny yard out the back.

They call it a 'compromise' but I reckon somebody's 'avin' a larff!

What about Grand Designs? It's not called 'Modest Designs' or 'Sensible Designs' for obvious reasons. Most of the properties are enormous (and soulless).
I wonder if the time for the dream they've had for years has maybe passed - the children may have left home, they would find a smaller place easier to maintain, etc but now they've got the money they want to invest in a bigger house.
The problems they suffer during the build must surely take the gloss off it.

It's the people moving abroad 'for the children' that get me. Be honest, it's for you and the children going to a school where they don't speak the language, is a minor inconvenience. Or the young couple who can't live more than 50 yards from the café culture and nightlife, planning to start a family.

The programmes that try to find a home in the country do amaze me, they often want a huge house with at least four bedrooms somewhere very or at least fairly isolated, with a view. The reasons given almost always include that they want plenty of room so all their family and friends can go and visit and stay with them. They often also want lots of land also so they can keep goats, chickens, ducks, horses, etc. Coming from the city as many of them do, have they got the first idea how much work a large house, garden/land, and animals will take, not to mention never having a holiday again as the animals will tie them down. Leaving behind all their family and friends in the city means trying to make new friends in an isolated spot! Will the family and friends really want to travel to the farthest corner of Cornwall or wherever regularly, especially in winter?

And do we have to hear sarah say I've sold hundreds of houses all over the world and kerr I'm an interior designer two or three times in an episode. WE KNOW.

Another point on locations that appear fab on tv. Kirsty showed a property we knew, it was on the busiest of main roads and not in a nice area, although the property itself was a great size with potential. But you have to do a bit of homework on the area. We have put our bungalow search on the back burner for the moment as our list of reasons to avoid the area now includes 'aircraft noise'!! (Fracking, flooding, road noise, crime, HS2 route, digester site, pig farm smells +++), hard to please perhaps, but the only negative we encounter here currently is the noise of the sheep racing at the local 'attraction' and neighbours apples making our garage roof look like a snooker table, easily contended with so perhaps we should just stay here lol.

I can't stop watching these programmes - who on earth would want to live in the middle of nowhere, down a lane, up a hill miles from local shops (even with a view). Most of the couples seem to be past or nearing retirement so there could end with just one of them living the good life. I do get miffed when they see a kitchen the size of my ground floor and declare it "a bit on the small side." I love being near friends, shops, cinemas, theatres, restaurants, etc., and whilst I enjoy holidays in the country or near the coast, have no desire to move and can't imagine my friends or family being able to visit very often.

D.H. addicted to Grand Designs. Why do they always get pregnant when they are living on a building site? Why does every bedroom need a bathroom? How do they change the bulbs in these enormously high ceilinged rooms? And how on earth do they manage the cleaning?

I always think it's a bit sad that people with in excess of £500,000 (even as much as £1.5m) to spend on a property are unable to source and view them without the aid of a TV programme. I also get really irritated with those who want 'something with character' and then complain about low ceilings, beams, small rooms, etc.

And while we're on the subject, why do so many suddenly decide they want to keep horses, chickens, etc, when they've never had any experience in the past?