lovely jubbly london

Friday Fun

If you don't watch Glee you have no idea what you're missing. It's on Channel 4 on demand so you have no excuse not to catch up. You'll thank me later.

House of the Week

This week's house at a glance:

• classic Georgian style
• 3 reception rooms
• 5 bedrooms
• 3 bathrooms
• pool and pool house
• 11 acres
• market town within an hour of London
• £2.495 million

 

  

 

must visit: Hay-on-Wye

 

image from Cath Kidston

After seeing the above snippet, I now know I must visit Hay-on-Wye. A booklover's paradise, Hay-on-Wye has over 30 bookshops and many of the honesty sort as seen above. I was in the region not too long ago and had no idea I was missing such a gem! 

I also already found where I'm going to stay- Lower House. Just outside Hay, Lower House sits on 7 acres and looks like the perfect b&b. The only question is going to be which room to stay in?

 the Rose Room with its king sized bed

-or-

 the Oak Room with its own book-lined sitting room

Beautiful Books

 

I posted about these books here and here.

I'm happy to say I love them.

They even have ribbon bookmarks built in. 

new look

I was getting a bit bored of all the grey on my blog when it's so grey outside. A change was in order so I've lightened things up a bit. If you've stopped by this weekend you will have seen the different changes I've been trying out. I've changed the background from turquoise to purple to green and so on. I'll probably change it again before the week is up! 

I would really love to have a more graphic background, but can't figure out how to do it. Anyone a typepad pro?

House of the Week

This week's house is actually in our current 'hood although I can't say it's anywhere near our house (in size or location!). My dream house in our neighbourhood is actually quite different than this and maybe one day I'll act like a stalker and take some pictures of it. 

House at a glance:

• 9 bedrooms
• 4 bathrooms
• 4 reception rooms
• 10 acres
• 3 bedroom guest cottage
• separate flat over the garage
• pool house
• Grade II listed
• 20 miles from centre of London
• £5.75 million

 

 

notice

I know I've been absent this week but for good reason... 

Last weekend we were informed the owners of our rental are putting it back on the market. Basically, we need to get more intense with a search for our own home and make theirs decent for viewings. The weekend was spent tidying up and the first viewing is today. I hate to say it, but I'm really hoping they don't like it. If they do and make an offer we have one month to move and I'm really not ready!!

Anyway, we're hoping to go look at some places this weekend to get a better idea of some neighbourhoods and whether we would want to live in them. Here are some pictures of the listings I've been loving to hold you over until tomorrow's House of the Week which is all set to go.

small, but lovely 

stone cottage

oak floors, chandeliers and fireplaces  

(the far one is marble with a built-in mirror!)

a converted historic building (just a small section!)

House of the Week

I thought it would be fun to highlight some of the gorgeous houses for sale that fall into the "dream" category. Enjoy the eye candy!

This week's house at a glance:

• detached Victorian town house
• 5 bedrooms
• 4 reception rooms
• large private gardens with vegetable patch
• under an hour to London
• £1.295 million 

 

 

 

Snowy Sunset

 

Let's take a walk...

Follow the sign home.

Getting closer. 

 

Almost there...

Ahh- home sweet home. Isn't life grand?

House Heaven

I can spend hours perusing the real estate websites looking at the homes and since we want to buy soon I figure it's excusable. I have a long list of demands (upstairs bathroom, dining room or space for our table if open plan, decent sized kitchen, a fireplace, etc) and it can be hard to find something that meets them all. 

I've recently expanded my search to some new neighbourhoods and seen some real possibilities. Of course, I've never actually been in these neighbourhoods and if they fall in our price range I often wonder if they can be that nice! 

Anyway, care to take a look with me?

Barn Conversion

pros: some character, downstairs cloakroom, utility room and close to the high street

cons: kitchen/diner and I can't tell if it would fit our table, electric fireplace, hideous built-in-wardrobes in master which would need to be pulled out

 

Coastal Style Cottage

pros: cute, wood floors, wood burning fire, lovely country kitchen

cons: kind of exposed on the side (safety while away?), close to what looks like a busy road

Typical English Cottage

pros: um, just look at the above photo!!

cons: small, looks like commute would be more expensive

 

Victorian Semi

pros: slipper tub, fireplaces galore, new kitchen, 130ft+ garden

cons: very small upstairs- no real landing (how in the world would we get furniture in?!) and each bedroom is quite small although both have en-suite