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Boho, including boho in my blog, boho in Folkestone, and any mentions of böhö in my family tree. Also there's a feed of boho stories / mentions, a JSON feed of boho, a newer KML feed of boho , search my boho venue info. Hope you can find what you're looking for, if not please leave a message about boho.
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Apr20
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A trip to Canterbury yesterday, an early start, four houses to see. First one was a bit further out than we first thought, up Whitstable Road, though not an insurmountable distance to Canterbury West. The house is at the end of a cul-de-sac, so you have to eye up every other house on the street before you arrive. Unfortunately, the house immediately adjacent has some eccentric types living there, who keep all of their rubbish. There was a car in the garden, stuffed full of and covered by bags of rubbish. The only thing I can remember about the house we went to see was what the neighbours' house was like. I can't see anyone buying it until the council have been in and cleared the place next door. Good luck if you go and visit!
Number two was very nice. 1930s build I think, up in the St Martins area of Canterbury, so still only a ten minute walk to the town centre, further to either of the stations. Huge hallway downstairs, a room in its own right, like the entrance to a much grander house. All big rooms and some good modern features like kitchen and upstairs bathroom, with separate modern shower. Very rare for Canterbury it seems, not sure they go in for bathing much there at all... All rooms upstairs were big, and the upstairs landing was big enough to double up as an office too, handy. 90ft rear garden, and bonus conservatory, but no space out the front, so no chance of parking, though that was the case in the best three houses we saw today. Quirky decor in the front room, done in a wacky retro style, I suspect it was the adults only sitting room, as all other rooms in the house were given over to toys and kids drawings. Clare especially liked this house. Got some pictures here.
Next house was a similar area, but a terrace closer to town. Very smart inside, the owner had moved all the internal walls around which made it look quite cool. Oddly an upstairs bathroom, but no toilet, that was downstairs, probably that and the mini back garden were the only offputting bits.
The last house was amazing, and just reduced to within our price range, so it must have been available for a while but we'd not bothered to see it before. Four bedrooms, though only one downstairs bathroom, real cast iron open fires in four of the rooms and great wonky old oak floorboards everywhere. There's a trapdoor from the lounge and the kitchen down to a big cellar room, not sure if it was pool table sized or not but it was close. Clare wouldn't go down there and wouldn't like to live there, too spidery and a bit cold, but I thought it was fantastic. Bit impractical, looks like the windows need replacing and it's in a conservation area, so some expense ther. Also tiny backgarden and the front is right on the road, similar to the first place we looked at. No idea where you'd keep your bin, the agent didn't know either, so that's probably a no then. Got some pictures here.
All houses were a bit expensive really, I'm a bit nervous about prices coming down further and us not being able to let the flat out, though we still don't want to do the obvious thing in flogging it and putting our equity towards the new house and sitting comfortably for years. The flat upstairs from where we are now is still not let, not sure there have even been any viewings, though maybe they line those up for the day time when we're not here. Or, maybe in all the renovations they put some soundproofing in and we just can't hear people up there.
Lunch in Boho again, lovely. Stayed in last night.
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Apr13
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Two houses today in Canterbury, different parts of town, but with things in common. For starters, both too expensive really at 250k each. If the market really is tumbling we might be able to make a cheeky offer on just about anything we see now though I suppose. Also, they were both currently let, and we'd be seeing them with the tenants in situ. Also, both sets of tenants were entirely unprepared for our visits; the first were hastily tidying up, the place was a proper studenty sprawl with bottles and things scattered everywhere, and also what appeared to be a rolled up ten dollar bill left on a mirror, probably some sort of crazy art installation. It was a nice interesting characterful house in a nice old part of town, three big bedrooms, two cellar rooms and two knocked through reception rooms with just the raw brickwork of the chimney left standing in the middle of the property. It needed decorating, but the thing that makes it no good for us is the kitchen, which was too small. If it wasn't at the top of our budget we could have thought about rearranging things, maybe moving the kitchen or extending a bit, but we'd have no money left over for that.
Property two within the city walls is in the ideal location for us, right by The Dolphin. The tenants this time were even less prepared for our visit, they didn't want to let the agent in, they heard nothing from their landlord. We offered to come back next week but in the end they were unhappy but convinced, and the viewing continued. Surprisingly large three bedroom property, all of the downstairs was one big open plan space including the kitchen. I liked this, but it might need some thought. What would it be like living in a house where you can't close the kitchen off from the living room? At a squeeze we might even fit the pool table in this one, if we lived all around it. No garden, and being where it is no parking, but it's on a quiet street so stopping outside for deliveries and removals wouldn't be a problem. There are residents parking spaces right next door, but we know from previous enquiries that there's a waiting list for a permit. There is a small patio out the back, with the river adjacent. It's very shallow at this point, not even really deep enough for the ducks and moorhens to swim in, and is not quite as lovely as it sounds, but I liked it. Clare is less convinced, and at this credit crunching stage in the national economy I don't think we're going to be taking any risks on a place we don't absolutely love. I wouldn't mind seeing this one again though.
Some quick stats, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of todays properties were being offloaded by professional landlords. Possibly in a hurry. If that doesn't tell you the property market is plummetting I don't know what will.
Lunch was at Boho, my first time of eating there and it was lovely, I recommend it. Tea was at Escondido for the first time in ages. Nice, but as with the last several visits they got my order wrong. They recovered quickly, so unfortunately we had no reason to demand a discount. I think that place is a bit expensive now really, but it was full again, I guess there is very little competition in the area. As it was Jen's birthday, we went on for drinks in The Sandgate Hotel for a change, nice but didn't feel all that welcoming. We made our excuses and left before closing time, but the party continued back at Dean's house until 4am apparently.
Nice day today, got our shopping out of the way early so are having a lazy afternoon. Midsomer Murders and chilli later, GREAT!
