Sea views, en-suites and parking
Uncategorized | May 19, 2017
Back in March 2016 when we made the decision to put our house on the market we naively thought it would be snapped up! We loved it – wouldn’t everyone? Bought from new, it was perfect as our first proper house together. Three floors which gave Andy and I the privacy at the top of the house, out-of-bounds to the teenagers unless they knocked or whistled loudly. Anything but come bounding up the stairs unannounced, anyway I digress. Four bedrooms and 4 matching toilets, more than enough room for a moderate sized family. Chloe was both created and born here, on the cream carpet in our bedroom (!) Our home – the birth centre with on site midwife. But when it came to it – the house was lacking in one key area – no drive. 
Who would have thought a drive could play such a key role in selling a property. We have a HUGE double garage – but no drive. We have ample free parking right outside – but no drive. We HAVE off-road parking – but no drive. Friends and family living in London would envy our parking but its all relative, for some there is no compromise. People would come to view – ooh and ahh at the beautiful kitchen/ diner with pitched ceiling, a lovely sunny room. Andy and I would give each other the nod, this is the one, offer on its way. Until the following day when we received the call from the estate agent. Yes they loved it, so spacious, beautifully decorated but…….NO Parking! I despaired. Luckily, as Andy reminded me in one of those moments, we only needed ONE buyer. And eventually along came THE buyer that loved our huge garage. Alleluia!
At this time we also started to look in detail at guest houses or small hotels. So we asked our friends quite innocently – what do you look for in your ideal guest house? Good breakfast? Nice hosts? En-suites? Sea views? Yes all of the above please and …………. parking. The downside of living near the sea is often the lack of parking. Location and sea views often mean parking in a tiny spot on the front of the property or doing battle for one of the rare spaces on the road nearby. Or God forbid using a public car park. It seems that one of the qualities of owning a guest house is being a brilliant valet parker – 8 into 5 will go!
So we are going from one parking nightmare to another – potentially. The search for the ideal business and home will require compromise. Money does matter, we know we probably wont get everything on our wish list for our relatively small budget, but what will have to give?
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