A Change In Plans

Continuing on...
The specifications we were hoping to find in a house were:
1) 4 bedrooms with adequate number of bathrooms.
2) Backyard for Logan, baby brother and Dolly the dog to play.
3) Neighborhood where other kids might live that Logan could play with.
4) Outdoor area for Logan to ride her bike.
5) Tiled floors in some areas for Dolly to come inside (we only allow her on tiled floors).

HOUSE HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL - HOUSE #3

Sunninghill

The listing for this house read -

The Old Cottage - charming detached character cottage in this convenient location for local amenities and international schools. Property Features - * Living Room * Dining Room * Family Room * Kitchen/Breakfast Room * Cloakroom * Four Bedrooms * Two Bathrooms * Double Garage * Garden * Gated Entrance *

The monthly rental on this house = £3,950 per month. Current exchange rate = 1 British pound = 1.6080 US dollars. Doing a little simple math = $6,351 per month in US dollars.

Front of House

No Foyer

Front Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Breakfast Area

Cloak Room

Family Room

Upstairs

Bedroom

Family Bath

Master Bedroom

Master Closets

Master Bathroom

Our review of the positives and negatives of this property:

Positives:

1) This house has great character and is just how I imagined a quintessential English cottage looking.

2) Nicely remodelled kitchen with an induction cooktop.

3) Nicely remodelled bathrooms.

4) Good sized Dining Room with a great chandelier.

5) Bedroom for guests.

6) Big yard for the kids and Dolly to play.

7) Tile floors on first floor for Dolly to come inside.

Negatives:

1) House is located by itself with no neighbors or kids for Logan to play with close by.

2) House is located on a busy road with no nearby amenities.

3) Property has a gravel drive with no good place for Logan to ride her bike.

4) Several low door openings which Mike would surely be banging his head on constantly.

5) Very strange upstairs landing or lack thereof such that one of the kids or I might fall down and break our necks which would be quite inconvenient.

6) No separate bathroom for guests.

Last up - our decision.

Wow! When I named this blog I had no idea how accurate it would be to my life at this point. When we flew over for the final move to England I was 32 weeks pregnant with a baby boy. We had been in England 2 weeks when I woke up to find myself in labor one Friday morning. That definitely made for "A Change In Plans"!

Lane Verald Brown was born on Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 7:55 am at The Portland Hospital in London. He weighed 6 lbs 2 oz and was very healthy. All has been well with the family since Lane's birth. He is a very good baby. More on my experience with healthcare in the UK in a later post. For now, I'm going to time travel back and pretend we haven't moved over yet and I am still presenting our housing finalists...

The specifications we were hoping to find in a house were:
1) 4 bedrooms with adequate number of bathrooms.
2) Backyard for Logan, baby brother and Dolly the dog to play.
3) Neighborhood where other kids might live that Logan could play with.
4) Outdoor area for Logan to ride her bike.
5) Tiled floors in some areas for Dolly to come inside (we only allow her on tiled floors).

HOUSE HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL - HOUSE #2

Virginia Water

The listing for this house read -
A popular Virginia Park townhouse set around the beautiful Chapel (now a multi-purpose sports facility). Just a few minutes from the village and benefiting from 24 hour security and fabulous residents sports facilities including indoor pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, gymnasium, and tennis court. Comprising 4 bedrooms * 3 bathrooms * drawing room * study/4th bedroom * kitchen/dining room * conservatory * utility room * cloakroom * double garage and small private garden.

The monthly rental on this house = £3,750 per month. Current exchange rate = 1 British pound = 1.6080 US dollars. Doing a little simple math = $6,092 per month in US dollars.

The background on this development called Virginia Park is interesting. The grand main building was once an insane asylum. Holloway Sanatorium was commissioned by Thomas Holloway who was a wealthy philanthropist and was built between 1873 and 1885. The sanatorium was transferred to the National Health Service in 1948, suffered a fire at some point and then became unoccupied and neglected. Virginia Park was developed in 2000 and consists of condominiums in the main building, detached homes and townhouses.