Moving house for a barbel?

[Andrew Boyne]

I have managed to work all this into the equation, just need to get the house back on the market again , probably early next year, waiting for the market to pick up a bit.

Get it back on now Dave - the housing market is buzzing at the moment! Relatives in the in the industry say they have never been as busy. A house opposite us went on the market recently and sold within a week!

With regards to the op - take the plunge! Can only be a good thing to be closer to the rivers you love. Nothing worse than a long, slow, frustrating drive to dampen the spirit.

 

[David Gauntlett]

Dave, it is true that you will be moving away from old friends, and that is always a slight wrench. However, once you move to live near your beloved Avon, you will only be the same distance from those friends as you previously were to the Avon...and that distance didn't stop you getting to that, did it?

So, if you think about it.....if you move nearer to the Avon, you are merely reversing the present situation. You will be right near your hearts desire, but further from your friends. I wouldn't mind betting that this would mean you would then fish the Avon far more often than you ever did visit your friends, even though you live near them. So, logically....it's a no brainer. Move, and enjoy life and your fishing to the full...with an occasional trip back to visit friends. Makes good sense to me, whichever way you look at it.

Go for it

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Mark Swaby]

Dave T, your address says it all,'Too far from the Avon', move whilst you still can.Moving house is a real pain in the butt,and the older you get the more difficult it becomes. Its so funny,when you meet fellow Anglers down on the Avon or Stour, a large number of then say 'I had enough of the travelling and moved down',used to live in St Albans or Hayes etc. It seems like a lot of us who have fished down there, have the same Dream. What about someone with a load of money building a small group of retirement homes near Ringwood just for anglers.

 

[Roger Hill]

Dave T, you've got to move down so I can pick your brains when you get here. Having both the Stour and the Avon, not to mention Christchurch Harbour and proximity to the sea, so close means you can be on the bank within half an hour should the conditions or opportunity allow. I know leaving old friends is a serious consideration but I am confident you'll also make many new ones.

Give me a call when you get here !!

 

[Lewis Anderson]

Dave, it is true that you will be moving away from old friends, and that is always a slight wrench. However, once you move to live near your beloved Avon, you will only be the same distance from those friends as you previously were to the Avon...and that distance didn't stop you getting to that, did it?

So, if you think about it.....if you move nearer to the Avon, you are merely reversing the present situation. You will be right near your hearts desire, but further from your friends. I wouldn't mind betting that this would mean you would then fish the Avon far more often than you ever did visit your friends, even though you live near them. So, logically....it's a no brainer. Move, and enjoy life and your fishing to the full...with an occasional trip back to visit friends. Makes good sense to me, whichever way you look at it.

Go for it

Cheers, Dave.

Bang on the money there!!

 

[Dave Taylor]

Wise words Dave G.
Mark S. ..good idea with the Ringwood retirement home, somebody could be missing a trick there!
Roger,..looking forward to meeting up at last, and with many others that do,..or used to post on the forum. I think it will be me that will be 'picking brains' !
I foresee my barbel count per outing dropping somewhat as there is no way I will be filling the river with casters every session which very few barbel that swim can resist.
At the moment I am happy to spend 25 to 30 quid per day if I've made the effort to travel there, but if I was local I would revert to type and use less bait and take advantage of local knowledge instead,..but I do love to see a swim full of barbel going potty over maggots or caster. Also looking forward to a bit of roach fishing on the Stour and stalking some of those monster chub!
All the best
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[David Craine]

Get it back on now Dave - the housing market is buzzing at the moment! Relatives in the in the industry say they have never been as busy. A house opposite us went on the market recently and sold within a week!

With regards to the op - take the plunge! Can only be a good thing to be closer to the rivers you love. Nothing worse than a long, slow, frustrating drive to dampen the spirit.

Andrew.... the housing market depends where you live, I am in West Yorks, 3 miles from the Lancashire /Greater Manchester border, great scenery,miles of wild moorland, good for walking, photography, bird watching,lots of still water fishing.........I am in a fairly rural area, but with good access to M62, close to all local ameneties, but houses are not really moving at all in this area.


I can wait for another year, things can only get better.

Dave.

 

[Jack Pells]

I'm pleased with the response so far guys, keep them coming as I know some on this forum have taken the plunge.
Fair point about the decline of the Stour and Avon Neil.
Although I have been a CAC member for years I'm nothing more than a tourist to those parts. I agree that neither river is what it was when I first ventured down there,..but the same could be said for my local rivers which I have been very involved with over the past years. I just get a real buzz when walking the banks of the Avon which has been a very lucky river for me over the years.
I have also thrown my hat into the ring for a syndicate on the Avon which would be difficult to justify without being able to fish it on a regular basis.
I hasten to add that this would not be my prime motive for upping sticks though.

Nick,..the ponds are giving me a lot of soul searching at the moment.
You can't just put big carp in the back of the car and motor off into the sunset.
I must admit to becoming very attached to some of those that I have raised for 25 odd years and would be loath to entrust their welfare to someone who may neglect them.
The logistics of moving big fish to a new home can be a nightmare although I know one or two that have done it.
This thorny problem is one reason why so many ghosties and koi have been released into the wild and given us the dreaded koi herpes virus!
Besides all of the problems with moving them one has to ask the question,..is it worth all the effort to relocate them to 'otter central!!'
Some years ago we managed to buy some scrub land at the end of the garden and I have dug a large pond and planted loads of trees and shrubs.

This becomes a part of you because you created it, but I would relish the challenge of starting a new chapter and doing it all again with the added bonus of being in easy reach of my favourite rivers.
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Mate that looks lovely!

 

[Graham Elliott]

Hasn't Ringwood or Bournmouth got the oldest average age in the Country?

So the market should move all the time with properties coming available often.

Retired at 55. Lucky to live so near to the southern gems in the Thames Valley and its not so far to Hampshire or Worcester area rivers (less than 2 hours) for a change of scene.

You only live once................do it!

 

[Dave Taylor]

Jack...I will let you know when it goes on the market..:
I know you like your carp so there's a pic of the koi pond on the carp thread on other species if you missed it.
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[Kenneth Thompson]

By living close to the river (5min drive for me to royalty and throop) you can justify fishing the not so perfect conditions more often and, like previously stated, respond to that urge in an instance, or take oppunities of very quickly arising prime times during bad conditions ( following a heavy downfall during a summers drought or a warm night during a freezing winter).

However i havent had to do anything to achieve this, i was lucky to be born here!

DO IT!

 

[Anthony Pearson]

I agree with all the positive vibes being expressed, but make sure all the things that you will need in retirement are close to hand from a non-fishing perspective.

 

[John McGough]

Never looked back Dave. I love Ringwood, especially the 'forty niner'
I can walk to the Avon from home. Still working and will continue to do for many years yet.
I made the move 12 years ago..........
You know it makes sense

 

[Dave Taylor]

Hi yer John Mc
That forty niner has been responsible for giving me some savage fishing hangovers after a night in the Furlong or White Hart, sort of feels home from home when I'm down there!
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[Dave Taylor]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys,..my wife had a look at the replies and her predictable retort was ''well they would say that would'nt they,..It's a barbel forum!!''
Theres a few lose ends to tie up, then barring any unforeseen disasters I think we are going for it.

I would be very interested for honest opinions regarding the koi pond. As I mentioned early on in this thread I'm a bit concerned that it may be the fly in the ointment and possibly put prospective buyers off.
There is a certain amount of husbandry to be carried out every week to keep the water quality tip top,..not so much in the colder months.. and some would obviously be concerned about young kiddies falling in.
I could ask the estate agent his/her opinion but I figure that they will just say no problem just to get the property on their books.

I'm not angling for complements on the pond here,..but an honest opinion of whether it would put you off buying a property if everything else ticked the right boxes.
Breaking the pond down and making good will not be an easy job,..and I've already mentioned the difficulties of moving large fish and finding them a new home. Very few koi keepers have the space or may be unwilling to subject their stock to possible desease or parrasites from new arrivals.
This is something that has to be considered now, not when the for sale sign goes up, so opinions please.
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