To design or not to design?
Patricia 10
Posts: 3
We have our house up for sale. We have an acre of landscaped gardens with many individual areas including cottage garden, oriental garden, veg garden, fruit trees, shrubbery etc. We are now told that people prefer a large lawn only, so that they can go over it with a ride-on. Viewers love the garden but are they prepared to do the work? Apparently not. I would value your correspondents comments.
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Posts
There's no pleasing everybody and no accounting for taste.
Patricia - we also have our house up for sale. It's taking a long time - this part of the country is well behind the rest with regard to movement in the housing market! Finally, there are signs that things are picking up. The comments we get from all those who view is that they love the garden. (Not as large as yours, but designed with pond, island bed, ericaceous bed, veg plot etc). I suspect that they don't want the work associated with it, although there is as much or as little work as you want, if you plan things properly. (The ericaceous bed of rhodos & azaleas pretty much looks after itself, for example).
Ah, well - we just have to wait and hope for a fellow-enthusiast to turn up! Good luck.
Hi Patricia
you just haven't found the right buyer yet. Our garden was a very large lawn with an apple tree and a hedge going halfway across the garden. We got rid of the hedge and have a pond, and lots of plants now,. It isn't high maintenance, and I bet that is what people think when they see yours and are overwhelmed.
We had a reasonable size garden at one of previous houses not huge by any means but I took it from a piece of wasteland to a lovely garden with pond etc. We sold it quite easily. However a few months ago I took a look at it on google earch and it almost made me cry. It is now a football pitch complete with goals and bare patches and the pond is a lawned over hump in the middle. When I think of all the hard work and the cost involved. I wouldnt mind, but one of the reasons they bought it was because it had such a lovely garden.
Patricia 10, anyone who comes to see your house knows that it comes with a large piece of ground. So, if you feel that there is a problem, are you absolutely sure that it is the thing that is the problem? I see from your profile that your garden is your delight and I'm sorry to read that you are selling it. Don't be disheartened. People often don 't give the true reasons why they don't want to buy a house and it may not be the garden at all. You can't guess what is in their minds, I know, I've been on both sides of the fence many times!
Keep the garden tidy so that it looks like a doddle to run. Try not to eavesdrop on their "plans" for the property. It will, as Yvie says, drive you mad.
If you don't live in the south east, it might take time to find a buyer. Some beautiful houses round here have been for sale for a long time. But you will find a buyer. You will.
If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
Anyone who loved the house but feared the garden would quickly find a man and machine to reduce the latter to ruins in a day. So I just don't think the right person has found you yet. There are a lot of houses around here that have been for sale for a while and buyers can be picky; if there are two very similar houses at the right price, they may go for very marginal differences (100m from main road rather than 50m).
Wow, thanks for your comments. It really makes me feel a bit better. We have to sell because a bad back means I cannot manage the jobs I used to do. Looking forward to a new, smaller, plot though.
I agree with the other comments that you havent found the right buyer yet. A beautiful garden helps to sell the house rather than hinder. And as Joe said if people like their gardens to be just grass and gravel they would soon make sure that that becomes the case. Also the majority of the people who look to buy a house with a large garden do so because they love to garden so they would more than appreciate a nice tended garden like yours.