Villas inside and out

A rural retreat with close access to a corner shop, post office and pub is the nation's idea of the perfect home reveals Gocompare.com.

The findings emerged in a study of 2,000 homeowners, and shows the average person would be happy with a detached new build surrounded by half an acre of land.

The property can be up to 10 miles away from work, but less than two miles away from important amenities such as the school, supermarket, newsagents and doctor's surgery.

Having a good relationship with the neighbours is also important - as people, generally would like to be on first name terms with at least five people living nearby and be able to call on three neighbours for help in an emergency. Privacy was also an important requirement too.

Phil Paterson-Fox, head of home insurance at Gocompare.com, which conducted the research, said: "Most people aren't talking about a ridiculously huge mansion. The average person's dream home is a respectable four bedrooms.

Location is key, as is having friends and relatives close by.   The study also shows how important local amenities are to people with a library, post office, school, pub, a doctor and dentist all required within two miles."

The poll shows that despite fantasising about a four-bedroomed house in the country, the majority of Brits would like to have close access to an A-road so that they can get where they need to be quickly and easily.

In fact, the average person would not like to be further than five miles from the nearest town and nine and a half miles from the nearest city.

The perfect dream home would have a study and utility room, a dining room for entertaining, as well as a kitchen breakfast room for daily use.

More than half of those polled also dream of an indoor swimming pool.

For the outside of the house, people would ideally like half an acre of land surrounding the property, off road parking with a double garage and a sea view.

Phil continues: "The dream home, according to our poll, isn't actually that unrealistic.

"We asked respondents to give us an accurate portrayal of what they would like in a house, taking into particular consideration the location and local amenities.

The survey shows that just one in 10 people are already living in their dream home.

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