Originally Posted by TheCreature

...and you never want too. God awful place.

Originally Posted by robin1234

I just looked too, beautiful grade II listed houses for £140k, several of them. Looks nice around there, too. I think it is one of the places featured in Bill Bryson's book Notes from a Small Island.

Originally Posted by dunroving

I watched Michael Portillo's new series on British railway trips, he visited Port Sunlight on Monday. It looked like a very interesting place, and I was surprised to find the houses can be had for < £180k.

Originally Posted by pomikev

I have gotten so used to the social isolation that comes with being an ex-pat that I reckon I could easily handle a bit of hill walking, fishing, walks on deserted beaches and trip into a small town once a week.

I quite like the idea of being a bit of a hermit and would enjoy getting even more eccentric and flakey as I get older.

I would spend my days wandering in the heather enjoying bracing weather and spend my evenings sitting in front of a blazing fire reading books about philosophy. I could also write my memoirs, drink gallons of tea, eat a packet of digestives every 2 days and slowly work my way through all the different single malts available.

I could smoke my own salmon, brew my own hops and stuff my own haggis lol. I could poach venison from the royal estates and collect baskets of kelp from the beaches to put on my garden, maybe have a cow for milking and a few sheep. Obviously a couple of huge dogs that love to run across the fields, an old fashioned green land rover and 2 pairs of wellies, one pair for gardening, one pair for best lol.

An archaic revival where I rediscover my pagan celtic roots, I could wear harris tweed and a flat cap and have a small dent in the back of my leg where my dog walks

Oh how I love dreaming, the imagination is what drove me to explore this planet in the first place and it's the one thing that hasn't diminished over the decades but if anything has grown stronger and whackier as the years of cultural starvation, mosquito bites and flies have weathered my brow.

Call me a sentimental old fool, my wife does, but she looks at some of the cottages i find on the scottish real estate pages and also sighs with a deep yearning for those misty snow capped mountains.


OK I'll stop rambling on (rambling - now that's another thing I could do), but at the moment when I daydream about returning to the UK those are the kinds of fantasies I entertain,

Am I the only ex-pat to have gone bonkers in this way or what ?

Originally Posted by dunroving

An old friend lives halfway between Skipton and Keighley and does not have a kind word to say about the latter.

Originally Posted by ElizabethK

That's about 4 miles from where I live, and it's absolutely gorgeous It's almost toytown like in appearance and on summer days you can sit watching the elderly gentlemen playing bowls.

Originally Posted by not2old

from our part of the world Elizabeth ...Ferry Across the Mersey

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-39920752.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-35215052.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-39514681.html

Don't know why Birkenhead is so resonable

Originally Posted by ElizabethK

Truthfully, Birkenhead is not the best place to live It's where I was born and for that reason I love it, however it has become a little rough around the edges lately. Having said that, if you move just a couple of miles from the town centre it becomes far more affluent with some properties selling for mega bucks!
Take a look at this one which is only about 2 miles from the centre, yet is well out of my reach

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-39700984.html

Originally Posted by robin1234

I must admit I've always been intrigued by all these different areas near Liverpool. Never been anywhere near there in my life. I visited Chester once, back in the late sixties, that's probably the closest I've been. Going to England on Friday for three months. I'm thinking a short visit to Liverpool is in order, then I can check out the city and go to Port Sunlight, for instance, maybe visit the Lady Lever Art Gallery! If you were going to Liverpool for four days, never been before, where would you go?

Originally Posted by robin1234

I must admit I've always been intrigued by all these different areas near Liverpool. Never been anywhere near there in my life. I visited Chester once, back in the late sixties, that's probably the closest I've been. Going to England on Friday for three months. I'm thinking a short visit to Liverpool is in order, then I can check out the city and go to Port Sunlight, for instance, maybe visit the Lady Lever Art Gallery! If you were going to Liverpool for four days, never been before, where would you go?

Originally Posted by ElizabethK

Truthfully, Birkenhead is not the best place to live It's where I was born and for that reason I love it, however it has become a little rough around the edges lately. Having said that, if you move just a couple of miles from the town centre it becomes far more affluent with some properties selling for mega bucks!
Take a look at this one which is only about 2 miles from the centre, yet is well out of my reach

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-39700984.html

Originally Posted by robin1234

I must admit I've always been intrigued by all these different areas near Liverpool. Never been anywhere near there in my life. I visited Chester once, back in the late sixties, that's probably the closest I've been. Going to England on Friday for three months. I'm thinking a short visit to Liverpool is in order, then I can check out the city and go to Port Sunlight, for instance, maybe visit the Lady Lever Art Gallery! If you were going to Liverpool for four days, never been before, where would you go?

Originally Posted by TheCreature

I wouldn't. ...but if you are looking for places to live, stick to South of the city, in Cheshire.

Originally Posted by robin1234

So you're saying, you'd advise someone who had never been to Liverpool, not to bother to even visit?? That seems a bit radical.

Originally Posted by TheCreature

To be honest, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. There's the Albert Dock, which really isn't anything special and not much else.