Well, this is turning into quite the week, again. Any of you feeling the need to run away and hide from this new world ordering? Then follow me...
Whittle Dene is a collaborative community living in 10, mostly handbuilt, cabins in the middle of 12 acres of Northumberland wood inhabited by fairies (maybe).
This cabin, Stanhope, was built in 1927 and the cluster of cabins has existed in Whittle Burn Woods since the 1900s. It is a historic site in the middle of ancient woodland, cared for and protected by volunteers and residents. And obviously pretty rare for one of the cabins to come onto the market.
Here's some pictures before we go further.
Stanhope is off-grid to the extent that electricity is provided by its solar panels and back-up generator, heating by log burner, hot water by Calor gas boilers and water is mains fed. So, as long as you don't rock up with your Android or Apple smartphone, you're fairly hidden from those maddening crowds.
Outside are three garden areas with fruit trees, a geo dome that could become a greenhouse, and chicken coop. Boundaries between cabins are "fluid" - an incentive to work your plot.
There are two complications for any of you thinking weekend getaway rather than lifestyle choice - access and lease restrictions.
No car access - it's a walk through the woods. You're buying the leasehold (not freehold) and that has been on a rolling one-year lease for 100 years. The current lease holder is trying to see if that can be changed to a more market-normalised 20 year lease. The lease only allows 51 weeks of the year occupation - you have to spend Boxing Day to New Year's Day somewhere else.
Complications aside, this is a very special cabin in a very special wood offering a pretty exceptional escape to a more nature-led life shared with a handful of like-minded neighbours.
No car access - it's a walk through the woods. You're buying the leasehold (not freehold) and that has been on a rolling one-year lease for 100 years. The current lease holder is trying to see if that can be changed to a more market-normalised 20 year lease. The lease only allows 51 weeks of the year occupation - you have to spend Boxing Day to New Year's Day somewhere else.
Complications aside, this is a very special cabin in a very special wood offering a pretty exceptional escape to a more nature-led life shared with a handful of like-minded neighbours.
On the market at offers over £125k (leasehold) through GFW, details and more pictures on the agent's website here and on UK Land and Farms site here.
My next pick to show you is a more traditional remote cottage. Cefn Coch is a two-bedroom Welsh cottage surrounded by fields and farms and sitting pretty much on its own on a winding set of lanes.
My next pick to show you is a more traditional remote cottage. Cefn Coch is a two-bedroom Welsh cottage surrounded by fields and farms and sitting pretty much on its own on a winding set of lanes.
It has a gated and hedged garden, parking and privacy.
Downstairs is the lounge, kitchen and a bathroom/shower room. Upstairs are two bedrooms.
It's not big, but there's space to extend and if you were able to buy up part of the neighbouring fields you'd have a pretty good size smallholding.
It's not big, but there's space to extend and if you were able to buy up part of the neighbouring fields you'd have a pretty good size smallholding.
The nearest village (Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant) is couple of miles away, the nearest town (Oswestry) about 10 miles.
The downside is the cottage is up for online auction with a Buyer Premium of 5%. Which means that whatever you 'win' the house for at auction, you'll pay an extra 5% on top of that price to the estate agent. Plus all your other legal fees, renovation costs etc.
You already know I'm not a fan of UK agents' rush to auction properties - it basically means the buyer pays their own costs and the costs the seller would normally have paid. Often more.
The downside is the cottage is up for online auction with a Buyer Premium of 5%. Which means that whatever you 'win' the house for at auction, you'll pay an extra 5% on top of that price to the estate agent. Plus all your other legal fees, renovation costs etc.
You already know I'm not a fan of UK agents' rush to auction properties - it basically means the buyer pays their own costs and the costs the seller would normally have paid. Often more.
Cefn Coch is up for auction on 25th February with a guide price of £150k through Town and Country Properties. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
And my last property to show you is definitely, definitely not my usual pick. Not even sure it counts as a property.
Here is the 30 acre island of Eilean Mor, in Loch Sunart in the Scottish Highlands.
Here is the 30 acre island of Eilean Mor, in Loch Sunart in the Scottish Highlands.
It's uninhabited. Access is by boat or over the causeway at low tide.
There is no planning permission in place (yet?) and the island sits within the Sunart Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Sunart Special Area of Conservation (SAC) - which means dealing with Nature Scot and the umbrella body the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
But it is a whole, and a wholly beautiful, island for sale.
On the market at offers over £275k through Bell Ingram. Details and more pictures on the agents site here.
There is no planning permission in place (yet?) and the island sits within the Sunart Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Sunart Special Area of Conservation (SAC) - which means dealing with Nature Scot and the umbrella body the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
But it is a whole, and a wholly beautiful, island for sale.
On the market at offers over £275k through Bell Ingram. Details and more pictures on the agents site here.
