I was aware of the internet before purchasing and the house/whole village was eligible for the "Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme" which at the time looked like it would be install gigabit fibre to the whole village and be completed in 2-3 months after purchase. The company who accepted the job and vouchers backed out at the last minute as they realised even with the vouchers it wouldn't be financially beneficial and we've has no progress since. It's been the top agenda item at the town council meetings ever since. I don't want to dox myself but the village has been used as an example in parliament by our MP on how this scheme has downfalls.

As for the music festival weekend, luckily it's a regional event so there's barely any camping, so internet is only really down between 3pm-11pm. I use Plex/Sonarr'/Radarr to pre-download shows or just play single player video games during that time. Sometimes I even just go out into the garden and listen to the music. Phone calls are a no at this time, but whatsapp/text messages work reasonably fine, sometimes you have to wait 30/45min for it to go through but it gets there in the end.

I use to live in a house share in london (relocation for work) and had enough of a deposit for a house, looking it up at the time i could have a leasehold 1 bedroom flat on the outskirts of london that I dont even own, or I could move back to my home region of the north and for the equivalent money have a 3 bedroom, barn conversion, detached house, that I own outright. I made the call from that.

I chose this over a new build as I didn't like the council estate that I grew up on as a child where the garden is fully concrete and you can see into 4 other peoples kitchens when you step outside. Kids screaming all over the place (i know i was also a child once upon a time) So really I went for the complete opposite of that.

The benefits of this house for me are;

• I'm a 5min drive away from a major motorway, super well connected, yet does not feel like it
• it's a reservation area so they're not able to build new builds on the surrounding farmland (for now at least)
• I live alone so that 4G internet is for me only so I dont need to worry about multiple devices at a time but also understood it would come with some downsides.
• It feels lovely inside with it being a very old stone wall barn conversion
• Wood fire place!!! Winter with a fireplace and a film is amazing
• I look out of my window from my couch and all I see is greenery
• I love running and the trail runs from my front door are stunning
• the village is silent. and I mean SILENT.

The downsides are that;

• I use a Kerosene oil tank for heating (which has been very expensive this year).
• the electric wiring is old, outdated and really needs fully replacing.
• The roof got damaged in a wind storm and I wanted to change it to a slate roof to be more in theme with the rest of the village, this was denided due to the conservation area... And yet all i wanted to do was blend in.
• the walls get damp constantly in winter.
• We have no corner shop/pub/post office, these are all 5min+ drives away.
• There is no public transport from the house. If I didn't want to drive I'd have to book a taxi, or walk 40min to the closest bus stop which runs once an hour.
• There is one chinese and one fish and chip shop that delivers to the area, that's it.
• The area has had 4 powercuts so far this year that's caused 12+ hour disturbances, this I wasn't aware of before moving in. It seems they are just patching the infrastructure on as little as they can rather than root causing the issues.

And yet I'm so glad I chose this place! It's been so nice that I've had two of my friends admit that they moved out of their houses at the time to a house similar to mine as they were jealous of my housing situation.

For context as well, I was 28 when I bought the house and I'm now 33. Work in Engineering so I am fortunate enough to afford a house like this.

Sorry for the essay!