i know that some 'ishers would love the chance to own a big house with a good chunk of land. and maybe, times being as they are, they just can't get the money together. well, i may (may!) be able to help. it depends.
i have a big house and a lot of land (nothing massive in either case, the land, for example, is 8,000m2). and i'm thinking of selling up.
now, as you will see from my profile whatsit, i'm in sweden. in the south-east corner. so there is that catch - the property is over here. but the summer's (and winters) are drier and sunnier than the uk (much much more) and you can grow most things outdoors.. it's not all reindeer and moss! and the good folk of sweden have all had the courtesy of learning english. so there are no language problems. in fact so pleasant is sweden - i should perhaps add - that i am staying, not moving on. (in fact i want to move further north. into the really harsh badlands. don't know why. just a daft desire to prove myself to myself on an ever more daft basis! if i can be self-sufficient up there, then the next stop is the moon!)
well, anyway, back to the house. it has a new wood/wood pellet boiler. a new woodburning stove. lots of other things. good roof. solid structure and so on. i've just got it connected to mains sewerage and mains water too. but it does need a good bit of refreshing (y'know, new kitchen, bathroom and whatever else you might fancy).
ok. well, the downsides.
money: i'm not in this to make money. (hey, i'm not an MP!) so i'll happily sell for, say, 40K. (yup. that is 40K for a large detached house with all that land and no neighbours and what not). but, obviously, that is the price for people who plan to work the land and try to make something better for themselves who otherwise can't. it's not a price for property speculators. i'll not sell it to such.
traffic: there is one catch. the property is on a busy road. (busy by Swedish standards, by UK standards, it's probably not that busy). the road is to be by-passed, and then it will be quiet. but when will that by-pass be? the talk is ten years. so this is not a project for the old(er) 'ishers. the plus side is that it has been ok'd to build an earth-bank between the house and the road. which should make a deal of difference.
well, phew, in a nutshell, that's that.
sorry to those of you i've bored!!! and anyone else, still interested, even a bit, do feel free to get back to me for more info.
Pretty cheap compared to the UK.... And, of course, almost everyone speaks English here. It's often a job to get someone to speak to you in Swedish!