Great tenant sin list. The final.

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I actually haven't, however looking at her I'm getting a good inclination of her writings which actually brings about a strange British curiosity that exists here which is the very stark differences between villages and towns.

Villages local to me can often be the picturesque post card worthy settlements you immediately associate British villages to be like. They have the cliché village pub, the little post office and the farm houses that go with it. The communities are always tightly knit and on a summers day it's everything you would expect a British rural village to be. Wales especially has the ideal countryside backdrop for them.

Towns here on the other hand are viewed in the opposite light. Rough (sometimes actually physically rough), poor and a population that doesn't really "fit in" anywhere in civilised middle class society. Getting down beneath the stigma though there is always some degree of community spirit and a sense of belonging and each is unique to the town. If you lived in a town called Drebaaaarrr" for example you would think of yourself as a "Drebaaaarrr boy" or part of the "Drebaaarrr massive" if you're a real simpleton. Others outside of the town know you're a "Drebaaaarrr boy" too.

If you were to move to a village though, it would in reality be similar to what you're probably thinking. Everyone knows each other and eventually it's one big happy family.....usually.

Yes, indeed.  Small towns in California and Michigan are similar in that way -- picturesque from a "drive-by" perspective: the bar, the church, the convenience store, and the town hall; all surrounded by rural homes that have seen better days.  The people may not all get along with each other, but they will form a silent and stone-faced front against any outsider who tries to squeeze in.

My own retirement plans include a small farm-patch above a river outside of a small town (pop.: ~1700).  The neighbors seem nice enough, and some of my wife's relatives are not too far away.

The smaller the community, the more clicky they seem to become but once in their trusted circle they're usually OK. Towns are too large to know an outsider when they see one but small enough to still have a some roots of community in them and friendly rivalry between towns.

I think there's a happy middle ground. Towns and some villages in my area can be large in population but the nature of their original design means they're high density and have a small footprint in comparison to their population. Sort of ideal if you want a mix of country and town life. I nice open plan village also sounds nice.

Your idea of a retirement plan sounds appealing. You hear of these people who want to "Escape to the country" literally and buy a farm in the middle of nowhere then wonder why they're lonely and homesick. A town right next to such a farm though means you'll have all your needs and jump to whatever environment takes you fancy on any day.

Sometimes I want to explore certain busy streets and other times I want to explore a woods and I can do both within a 20 minutes drive from here with ease.

I suppose our county seat would be classify as a village.Around 500 people and not one stop light.Everyone knows everyone ,except the tourists.You could wander around town at night and be safe.
On the downside it’s dry county and there are no pubs. It would be a long walk to one.And there are tweakers ,who commit the majority of crimes.One grocery store for the whole county.Lord help us if something happens to it.
You may also ride in a helicopter instead of an ambulance.

Well that's very quirky!!. I'm in a town of around 15k but my area has a fair few similar sized towns in clustered closely together and many smaller villages. True isolation like that is almost unheard of in the UK except for the most rural areas of Wales and Scotland.

Just had news today that a couple have paid their deposit for the house too which is great news.

WOOT!

Cangratulations!

Thanks!! It was a toss up between a single woman who was slogging away at two jobs and a couple who worked and seemed stable. Both equals in my eyes so it was whoever could get the ball rolling first and the couple were on the ball and gave it a good old roll.

Don't know whether to drop the price by £25 a month though. It makes even me cringe a little with the price it's at but apparently that's what the agent said is appropriate. I've been out the rental loop for most of the pandemic so I'm blinkered to the recent rental price rises and not really one to decide.

I've had the agents call me a month ago about the prices on two other houses being too low. Downside is that they're great tenants. I'll need to see how inflation pans out I think.