While waiting for Phil and Kirsty to reply to our application we set out on a search of our own. Our task was locating a UK home in striking distance of Loughborough University. Right Move became our go to for a daily browse of newly added properties. With the million dollar question, ‘where was the best place to settle’, the focus of each search.
Our first excursion took us to north Derbyshire to the town of Riddings. We were on our way to a house viewing and stopped to explore the surrounding area. There was a barn conversion for sale which was on our list but we were without an appointment. We stopped to check out the setting and the view. The farmer came out to talk to us and ended up showing us the two acre site connected with the property and then bringing us inside to see the kitchen and living room. We met his wife too, they were a lovely couple, selling the former dairy barn in order to downsize. The house was nice and the views were spectacular. What would we do with a two acre field? Some sheep or goats to keep the grass down and maybe we could get chickens…..
Next stop was the village of Brinsley where we had an appointment to see our favourite property on Right Move. How different the two properties were. This one was a small cottage which had been renovated by property developers with a view to selling at an inflated price. We got a sense from the estate agent that maybe it was overpriced compared to other properties in the area. While it was nice we quickly realized that the photos were very well done and in fact the space was tight, mostly reliant on the garden and outdoor space. It was too small for a family of four and how would we fit into the village, strangers coming into town, purchasing the most expensive property there then heading off to work outside of the village…..next!
Another excursion took us to Morley and Duffield near Derby. The first house on our list was in Morley, on a bad bend of the road with nothing around it. The asking price was £600K and while the outside garden was nice the interior of the property needed work and was quite small. We took a walk alongside the Morley Hayes Golf green. It was busy with people walking dogs and enjoying the warm weather. On the road we passed Oakwood where there several houses for sale, a quick scoot around showed one big estate of houses and little else.
Duffield is a popular suburb of Derby. We stopped there to see another house on our list from the outside. It was on the main road across from the train station. Again we were shocked at the property which seemed to be connected to a house on both sides, even though it said it was detached! The pictures showed that it was nicely decorated but we felt £600K was too much for it. We had lunch in a nearby bar ‘the White Hart’ on the Main Street. Lunch was nice, despite the new covid measures. There were lots of shops along Main Street too. The nearby Eccelsbourne school draws people to the area and raises house prices too. Every ad in the estate agents window boasted an Eccelsbourne catchment address.
Nearby, Little Eaton, is a lovely village. We met friends there and did a long walk through the fields around the village. It was lovely to get out into the countryside while being so close to Derby City. We stopped for refreshments in the Bridge Inn on Duffield Bank before returning to Little Eaton.
There were some houses for sale in Darley Abbey so we drove over to take a look at the area. Darley Park was a lovely place for a walk, there was a big playground, lots of grass where we set up a family football game, several paths for the scooters and a cafe with a large outside patio. The pub on the corner of Duffield Avenue and Broadway aptly called ‘The Broadway’ was a good place to stop for lunch. It was a Wednesday so we took advantage of the government 50% pay back scheme and enjoyed a reasonable lunch for four.
Driving from Alvaston on the A52 we stopped in several villages. The first Borrowash was bigger than expected. There were lots of shops including a large co-op and a butchers. We looked at the houses on offer. There were lots of estates and some nice looking places. Next Village was Breaston which had some nice pubs, a park and a church. We got lunch in the Bulls Head. Finally we drove through Long Eaton, this place had everything we hated about a small town! It was run down and grotty, definitely not for us.
Heading south from Alvaston we drove towards Calke Abbey. The long street on Ticknall was busy with traffic and the passing airplanes overhead were noisy. We had an appointment in Smisby so we arrived there early, walked around and had a coffee in the local pub. The period property for sale on the Main Street was beautiful. It was very well maintained and had lots of antiques and period furniture. The problem for us was a lack of a proper garden. Also the area was too quiet for the kids. There were other properties for sale in the area so we drove along the busy Ashby road through Woodville. We couldn’t manage to secure a viewing of a house there for two weeks, the property sold in the meantime! Roadworks prevented us heading to Blackfordby. A converted barn in Calke was too remote. The village of Swannington was nice with a couple of pubs and a small school. The outskirts of Coalville was busy and full of estates. The village of Thringstone had houses built on top of each other. The market town of Ashby de la Zouch seemed to have a lot of houses on the outskirts. The center had lots of shops and services. This town is home to schools for all the surrounding small villages.
Just south of Ashby was the tiny village of Donisthorpe. We visited our favourite house of the search here. It was a period house with four bedrooms. The couple selling it were retiring to Greece on a boat. They had spent 21years here and loved the place. The garden was a tribute to them, it was amazing with lots of little nooks and seating areas. There was a park next door with cycle lanes and a canal. The pub on the corner had a nice garden and served good food. We were very taken with the house but decided that local schools may not suit us and it was a bit far from the uni.
Markfield, an old town mentioned in the Doomsday book, was worth a visit. There were two period properties in the main square for sale. The town seemed nice enough. We preferred nearby Newtown Linford with the rows of thatched cottages, several pubs and the fabulous Bradgate park. The coffee shop in the park serves afternoon tea which might make a nice visit someday.
East Midlands airport services the midlands and is a great facility to have nearby. The flight path towns, however, tend to be a little noisy. We scrapped Diseworth as it was so close to the airport. Kegworth was a nice little town with a bowls and cricket club and boats on the river. Sutton Bonington, home to part of the Nottingham University campus was another nice red bricked town with several barn conversions. Long Whatton we liked. There was a country store for sale that we briefly considered exploring. There was a nice Main Street with cyclists passing. East Leake seemed to have a lot that interested us, the brook running through the town, schools, several pubs and shops. We stopped for a coffee on a patio and then a plane flew overhead. Very loud and some flights have a very early start. There was also a lot of building on the town outskirts, we reckoned the town was about to get a lot busier.
Wymeswold is a pretty town with lots of red brick heritage buildings and no estates. We had an interesting visit there to a converted Baptist Church now home to a four bedroomed home with lots of quirky features. Most quirky of all was the graveyard in the front and back gardens. Oh and the fact that the owner works in Loughborough University. A strange first meeting for Mark. The news that they were getting a divorce and the story about lightening hitting the building and blowing power in the whole street made me question whether the former church was as nice a home as it seemed.
Woodhouse Eaves was another nice village south of Loughborough. We stopped for lunch in a garden patio. The chatter around us was about horses and stables. Burton on the Wolds has a nice pub that gets good reviews for food. The houses there were piled into an estate on Hubbard Road and other than the pub and a garage there wasn’t much else there. Shepshed was across the M1 near to Loughborough. The town was ok and the houses seemed nice. There was a school, several shops and services and a nice park. Everywhere seems to have bike paths and hidden trails waiting to be discovered.
One of our favorite villages was Melbourne. We walked through some fields with lovely views and made our way back to the Main Street. There were several nice pubs and restaurants, a Catholic Church, a co-op and several other shops. It was a nice village for walking around. The local Melbourne Hall and pond was a nice place to walk and feed the ducks. On the way back to Alvaston we passed through Weston on Trent and Aston on Trent. Aston has more than Weston, pretty but too far from the uni again. Chellaston, also near Alvaston is a huge estate of houses, that must be why new properties appear there nearly every day!
Our search narrowed and brought us closer to the market town of Loughborough and the university where Mark is about to take up a faculty position. Nearer to the university were Barrow on Soar and Quorn. We visited last year at the very beginning of our search and liked them but had nothing to compare them to. We returned to Quorn and had a nice lunch in an outdoor cafe. In the center of the village is a big park, there’s a good neighborhood school and lots of nice restaurants. Barrow is on the river. Walking trails link both places to Loughborough.
Several areas were recommended to us to check out. Near the university was the Holywell Drive area, nice houses but no major facilities. Some of the faculty live on Park Rd, where there’s a tennis club and bowls green. Other streets nearby are Beacon Rd, Burton St and Herrick Rd. The Private Schools are in this aren and the town centre is a ten minute walk away. We also drove around Fairmount, Benns Cliffe and Holywell Drive. Nice area near the uni but not many shops etc there. We saw a house with a nice garden that we could get cheaply and renovate, next door was a renovated version but we were told it had sold so couldn’t get to see it. Walking from the university to Queens Park in the town centre took about 35minutes. Some lovely streets near the College and a park to walk through. Williams street near Frederick Street was similar to Phibsboro. On a future trip we’ll try to view some of these types of properties and to help make a decision on where is the best location, location, location..
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