Moving house - Viewing a house attached to a farm

Our house is going on the market on Monday (up To Let) and we're hoping to get moved over to the Yorskshire Dales (or just outside more towards the M1 for work!) very soon. We're only looking to rent for now.

I'm glad to say that having 2 Akitas has only put one person off due to their 'size'. But all the other 'pets negotiable' ads have been fine about the dogs - some wanting to meet them or wanting a bigger bond, no problem. Actually the bigger issue has more been finding a house with decent size enclosed gardens, my dogs don't toilet in the garden or even particularly 'use' a garden, but they would both escape given a chance, or a small hole!

We're viewing the first 2 next Tuesday, one in an idillic village with a primary school...

The other attached to a farm. 4 beds, big gardens, perfect location, 4 miles to the nearest town...away from the Dales but still 'ok' countryside. From google earth though it is ON a farm, there is a bigger house which I presume is the farmers house? I don't even know if it's a sheep/pig/crop farm. If it's a sheep farm - no way, if it's a cow far - pooh! If it's just crops then great. The owners have been told we have 2 Akitas and their reply was 'aw lovely'.

Might there be farm dogs running around on a daily basis

Has anyone any experience of living in this type of house? We haven't!

I can pm the details or google map of it if it helps!

My brother in law rents a cottage next to a farm, it was fromt back when you had a farm hand near by and the house was part of the package for them. Now a days a lot of farmers cant afford that kind of deal so rent the houses out.

He has no problems with the farmer but they are quite close and he helps out with pest control and looking after some of the smaller livestock in return for less rent.

I have never seen any farm dogs and for the most part you dont see much of the farmer either. There are sheep on this farm but he has working gundogs and lurchers so they have zero interest in them. They love it there and havent had any problems

My friend used to years ago, it was VERY noisy, tractors going to and fro early in the morning til late at night, lots of general machinery being fired up through the day, no let up at the weekends either.
Her garden was also bordered by a field of cows, which used to congregate at the fence if they caught site of anyone in the garden, and where there are cows, there are flies, lots of them, it became impossible to be out in the garden for any length of time.

On the plus side, it did mean she could keep her two ponies in her garden, and have a pet sheep that used to breack into the house

Thank you xx That's good to hear, how nice that he helps out too, (how i hope they breed horses or compete them haha, but i don't think so!). I guess farmers are busy people, and most quite down to earth, too busy to be noseying around like most neighbours these days.

That makes sense that it was probably built for a farm hand.. I never thought, thank you.

Livestock shouldn't be an issue - unless there is an 'accident' ie they escape, god forbid - as both my dogs are always on lead when out on walks, Zeke due to his arthritis now, and keisha because she's naughty!

The agent is showing us around, I will make sure I have a good nosey!

Thank you xxx

Eek never even thought of that, we're up at 6, well 7 at weekends, but i bet to a farmer that's late!

Also livestock congregating - i did notice with the gardens there isn't a chance of this happening, the way the land is laid out. The garden is surrounded by a lane on one side, building on another - cow houses?! - and a small orchard type thing at the bottom.

The quiet dog walks, nearby land for horses maybe one day soon, and the big spacious house not overlooked and just to our spec - simple, not posh, and very liveable with 2 dogs and a baby is so appealing.....

It may have escaped your notice, but muck spreading occurs on arable farms, this can be via various means using pig or cow slurry or, my absolute favourite, poultry excrement.

Therefore if you are concerned about aromas, you will not necessarily be any better off next to an arable farm than you would be re cows......................

oh no! Of course

Interestingly, i have just found out through a google search that the massive house/lodge i presumed was the farmers on the plot is also let out.. at nearly 2 grand a month (it's a mansion) with lots of formal gardens.

On those details it says "It is well situated in a quiet rural location and is accessed by private access driveway which serves three properties"

So a third property too...which isn't clear on google earth.

I grew up in what used to be an old farmer's cottage - just 4 houses down a private lane with a disused (abandoned/falling apart) farmhouse a bit further down. Not a lived-on farm, the farmer lives in the next down, but just cows and horses. The farmer had a rotation system which meant at least one field would be empty - perfect for dog walking!
Having lived there all my life, my parents were friendly with the farmer and we had a bit of a system where we'd keep an eye on things (e.g. if an animal was lame or looked sick, dodgy people hanging around, etc) and we could walk over the fields if we wanted.
I ended up moving back in with my brothers when my mum bought a new place with my stepdad and it was lovely. I would have happily stayed there longterm if it was an option - but the land doesn't actually belong to the farmer, he rents it from a concrete company and it will eventually be turned into gravel pits once they get around the planning permission issues. The house needed constantly money spent on it, being an older house, and OH and I didn't want to plough money into it longterm only to become trapped next to the noise and dust of gravel pits.
There were pros and cons, to list just a few, + for pros, - for cons

+ very private, just the one semi-detached neighbour and two more houses further down the road (out of sight). Out of the way of any trouble in town.
- a bit spooky, when things went bump in the night your imagination could run riot! Quite remote so can seem too much effort to trek into town for things. Pretty isolating if you don't drive, I was very glad to have my car and know my neighbour was itching to get one because she didn't drive when she first moved in.

+ plenty of dog walking areas and gorgeous views!
- livestock around, not too much of an issue for me but could be for some. Difficult to completely secure the garden without spoiling the views of the place, we worked around this by sectioning off a corner of the garden with 6' panel fencing and leaving the rest with lower fencing, the dogs only got supervised/longline access to this part

+ huge garden, good sized house
- quite high maintenance to maintain something that size.

+ no through-traffic, so not much to set the dogs off
- occasionally got blocked in and made late for work when the farmer was moving cows from one field to another, the narrow path had no room to pass and there was only the one exit route

+ no traffic noises, no kids screaming (well, the neighbour had one kid, but being so remote you didn't get all of their school friends hanging about etc.), just birds chirping, cows mooing and the odd train in the distance
- the smell! You got used to the normal horse/cow smells, but the farmer also owns a pig farm and uses the pig muck as a fertiliser. Fortunately they're limited in how often they can spread muck but it's definately a smell I will always recognise! We often just went out for dinner if he did it in summer because you didn't want to be cooking/eating with that smell, yet it would be too warm to shut the windows

+ an old house with lots of character
- an old house with lots of faults! No central heating, no double glazing, old fashioned wooden doors and sash windows, no gas supply. With money, this could be changed, but if you're just renting you probably won't want to invest in this stuff if you don't have it

+ horses greeting you at the back fence, a lovely sight
- horses winding the dogs up at the back fence We didn't have this issue because of the secure dog area but the neighbours had nightmares with the horses hanging over their back fence almost taunting the dogs!

+ fresh air, no car fumes, city smog, etc
- dust! Lots of it! Luckily I had to hoover daily because of the mutts anyway, but you have to dust every day, sometimes twice a day, from all the dust that comes off the fields. Curtains need washing, door frames wiping down, floors mopping, etc. way more than in a regular house. Come winter, it all turns to mud!

I loved it, but it was something I grew up with and was used to. OH liked it, but didn't like the maintenance side of things. I lived there with my brother and his girlfriend for a couple of years and know my brother was reluctant to move out when we left, he was tempted to stay on, but his girlfriend really didn't like it and couldn't wait to get into a flat in town. So it's not for everyone, but if I won the lottery I would definately be finding myself a similar kind of property (and paying someone else to maintain it to save OH the stress )

We did get the odd trespasser though!

Thank you sooo much for that reply Lots and lots I hadn't even thought of! - the dust, oh no! What a lovely place for you to grow up on the whole i think, you were very lucky!

The bump in the night thing - this is a worry of mine, i do feel safer with 2 dogs with me at night but would I feel safe enough if hubby was away for the night? He does a couple of times a year for work - We could all always go and stay at my mums i guess - only half an hour away - heehee!

The quietness is what is most appealing, the peaceful morning and evening strolls with the dogs before and after work, or lazy afternoon strolls on my day off. Baby Rowan (now 4 months) able to run and scream around the garden! Not worrying the dogs are making a din when they are left initially - a massive worry of mine and new neighbours - both dogs have only ever lived in this house with us, i am anxious about how they will handle a move and how quick they will settle in, i have to return to work (2 or 3 full days a week) in September. The property isn't too remote, only 4 miles from Bedale, a small market town type place, and about 10 from Northallerton, a larger town.

I guess with it being a rental, we only have to stay the remainder of the 6 months if we hate it... i certainly wouldn't risk buying it...

Thanks again for your reply, it has made me more excited! Roll on Tuesday! I will let you know how it goes!