House-hunting in Herts

Erica and I took the day out to hunt for houses in Herts. And a grey, overcast and drizzly day it was too, but perhaps it’s better to see properties in less than ideal weather conditions - sun can make even the most unpromising house look good.

We actually liked the very first house we saw, in the village of Digswell, just north of Welwyn Garden City. The great advantage of Digswell is that it has a station on the Great Northern Line into Kings Cross and that would get me onto the Piccadilly Line to Knightsbridge, the closest Tube station to the National Baha’i Centre in Rutland Gate. As it happens, Digswell is a rather nice dormitory village which also has a village life. There’s an interesting Character Appraisal of Digswell on the Welwyn Hatfield District Council website.

Not going to say what house we’re looking at. Don’t want everyone rushing there and outbidding us.

We looked at one other house in Digswell. We couldn’t make up our minds whether it was a 1930s or a 1950s house, but whatever the date the house would have needed a lot of work doing to it. In any case, the house was low-lying and hard on a fairly busy road. So, not that one! We called the estate agent and told them not to both to come and show us around the house, as we had previously arranged with them.

We moved on to Hatfield. Sorry, can’t say I like Hatfield; and when you talk to people in Hertfordshire and mention Hatfield, there’s an almost universal wrinkling up of noses. We took at a look at the outside of what seemed to be quite a substantial house - might even have suited us - but there was an almost impossible network of streets to be navigated before we found the house (thank goodness for the sat nav in the car!) and the surrounding housing estates were not of the best. Also took a gawp at a couple more houses in a much nicer part of Hatfield. Both were similar in design and size, but the first one had been extended and had five bedrooms, three of them with en suite bathrooms. Good houses, but not what Erica and I like - which tends to be rather quirky houses and houses that feel open inside. I really dislike houses where the rooms (especially on the ground floor) don’t feel connected to each other.

We picked Hari up from the uni in Hatfield and took her to see the first house we’d seen. She liked it too, so we called up the estate agents and made an offer.

Everything now depends on our getting an offer for our house in Abingdon.