Rickleton 4-Bedroom House For Sale, WASHINGTON: April 2014

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Quiet cul-de-sac in Rickleton

Rickleton village is a highly desirable location which lies within the town of Washington – partly in Sunderland borough and partly in County Durham, England. It is located on the south side of Washington Town and borders Harraton village, Birtley and Chester-le Street, County Durham.

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

Garden

The back garden faces North-West, but, being raised, it gets the sun all day (depending on the season of course). It is fairly secluded and not directly overlooked, and benefits from mature laurel bushes, pine trees and two apple trees (which provide a good harvest of apples at the end of the summer). There is a gate in the back fence leading to a secret garden - a wild meadow of long grasses, shrubs and trees which borders the area of designated public open space (which means it can't be built on without changing the designation).

The garden used to slope down to a low-height retaining wall, but this was levelled off to make more usable space / lawn at the top of the garden. To achieve this, the pictured retaining wall was built, and a raised terrace installed between the top garden and the ground level. This retaining wall is over a foot higher than it needs to be and the could easily have the top three courses of bricks removed without affecting the levels of the upper garden. This would make the wall seem less imposing at the ground level. I am in the process of getting a quote from builders to do this and add a render to the brickwork.

View from rear bedroom 3 - looking North West

View from rear bedroom 3 - looking west

View from rear bedroom 3 - panoramic shot

Sunday, 13 April 2014

Leisurely walk to Amiros - official time

Sunday night treat cos it's the school holidays. Pop into Amiros for desserts n drinks only. Ice creams for the kids, rose for the missus, couple of Peronis for me.

Thursday, 10 April 2014

Amiros Italian restaurant Harraton

We often walk out down to Amiros restaurant at Harraton - a very popular restaurant, always a warm welcome, great food, good portions. It's only about 10-15 minutes walk from Swinhope, very pleasant on a warm summer's evening, heading down Bonemill Lane.

The anti-pasti sharing platter is one of our favourite starters, but there's enough there to serve 4 as a starter never mind two. Afterwards, perhaps catch the last rays of the sun, enjoying a glass of rosé or two on the deck outside.

http://www.amirosrestaurant.co.uk

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Why move?

I've lived here for 16 years and been very happy, but now it's time to move. Why? Mainly to move closer to schools, work (the wife's), the kids' grandparents (child care arrangements), I do seem to be the loser in this proposed move because my relatively fast 20-30 minute commute to Newcastle will double if we end up moving closer to Sunderland.

We have fancied moving a closer to the coast for some time, and we should have don't it before the children started school down that way, but the time never seemed right - especially after we have invested so much in improving our house over recent years - all windows and external doors replaced, all bathroom and WC suites replaced, new kitchen installed and, of course, the spacious extension to the kitchen and laundry room.

Swinhope entrance and Bonemill Lane

The house is set well back from the entrance of the estate, but you perhaps don't get that impression when you drive in. Get out of your car and have a walk around. You'll see that first impressions are deceptive. It's miles away. The benefits? Well, you get a view of the trees from the living room and master bedroom - rather than looking at other houses (the main bedroom and living room are not directly overlooked); it's a good vantage point to spot visitors to the close - especially door to door sales people; less hassle for friends or taxis dropping you off or picking you up "just drop us here mate, champion!"