I'm decorating my house in Castle Road at the moment. There's a wide range of homes in this street - from original cottage properties right through to large new homes, only recently completed. All of them sit in a lovely street, leading up from the centre of the village towards Three Shire Wood at the top.
It made me think, you don't have to live on a housing estate to have a new home, and equally you don't have to settle for an older property if you want a rural location.
The last time we decorated was about 4 years ago, around about the time that I prepared the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for it. Built in the 1970s, this house is somewhere in the middle. Not only that it's half way up the street, and that its age is somewhere in the middle of the age range of homes on Castle Road, but also in terms of its energy efficiency. At an EPC rating of D, it's bang in the middle of the range (from A, the best, to G, the worst). Most of the older properties here will have ratings of F or G, and some of the newer ones could score as high as B. It's very unlikely that any of them will rate an A, since that would indicate a home that costs nothing to heat and light, which is really pretty rare.
For its age, a score of D is pretty good, and means that it's likely to cost a lot less to heat than most properties in Castle Road. The sun is with us now, but the lower heating bills will be welcome when the snow comes again. It's also good to know that at a rating of D, it's a lot better than those rented properties that have recently been accused of costing the Health Service £145M a year, dealing with health problems caused by homes with ratings of F and G. This is because poorly rated homes are linked to several health problems, including respiratory and cardiovascular conditions and rheumatoid arthritis. Not so nice, especially when it's snowing.