The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
First winter in the sticks? Give your home an MoT
For many who fled cities in the pandemic, this is their first rural winter. Alexandra Goss advises them how to survive – and stop bills soaring
This winter is going to be very different from any that Alexandra and Joshua Knight have ever experienced before. Earlier this year they moved from a suburban cul- desac in Oxted, Surrey, to a remote house with an acre of land in Northumberland, a 20-minute drive from Morpeth.
“We have gorgeous views and the property you can get for your money here is ridiculous compared to Surrey,” said Mrs Knight, 40, an engineer who founded Stemazing, a social enterprise. “But our new house is 200 years old and damp. It was empty for a year before we bought it, and the day we moved in the oil-fired heating didn’t work.”
The couple, who have two children, Isaac, eight, and Penny, six, have been getting ready for the colder months. They have put solar panels on the roof so they are less dependent on electricity from the grid and are about to have a ground source heat pump installed.
The Knights, who made their longdistance country move after the pandemic allowed them both to work from home long-term, have also heard plenty of horror stories about the harsh Northumberland winters so are not taking any chances. They always take a torch when they go out at night to put the bins out and have bought an extra freezer so they can stock up in case they get snowed in. “Before, we were a 10-minute walk from a Waitrose; now it’s four miles to our nearest corner shop,” said Mr Knight, 41, who works in data. “I’m not crashing into a hedge in a blizzard just to get a pint of milk.”
The pandemic and the increase in flexible working have caused a huge rush from towns and cities to the countryside, sending the average price of a British country house up by 10.6pc in the year to September. This is the fastest level of growth since early 2007, according to estate agency Knight Frank.
Not everyone who has relocated is as well- prepared as the Knights, and the realities of a first rural winter could
be sobering, said Caroline Edwards of estate agency Fenn Wright.
“There’s everything from the cost of buying logs and filling up oil tanks to setting up an account with a local taxi firm in time for the party season,” she said. Here is a guide to surviving a first winter in the country.
GET YOUR HOME IN SHAPE
Country homes are often much older than those in urban areas so reviewing the property thoroughly is crucial, said Richard Speedy of Strutt & Parker estate agency. “If something fails, it can be expensive to rectify down the line so maintaining and repairing before winter really arrives will help prevent soaring costs,” he said.
Ensure chimneys are swept and woodburners serviced before use. Only buy logs and kindling labelled “ready to burn” from a supplier accredited by the certification scheme woodsure.co.uk. Sales of wet wood, which when burnt creates more smoke and harmful particles of air pollution than dry wood, have been banned in units of less than two cubic metres; wet wood in larger volumes must be sold with advice on how to dry it before burning. Check, too, that you have working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors.
Make sure you know where the stopcock is and how it works, advised Edward Westmacott of Carter Jonas estate agency. “During my first winter in my house I turned off the stopcock in my drive and it turned off next door’s water as well,” he said.
And if your home has a septic tank, get it emptied before the ground freezes. The average cost of cleaning and emptying a septic tank is £ 200, according to myjobquote.co.uk.
Look out, too, for any signs of mice or rats. Mice can squeeze through gaps less than 2cm in diameter and rats need only slightly more space, so repair holes in outside walls, floorboards or skirting boards and keep your home clean and tidy, with all foodstuffs in sealed containers.
REDUCE HEATING COSTS
Almost half (43pc) of homes in rural locations are fuelled by oil, according to Savills estate agency, and the cost is likely to be a big shock for rural newbies. Heating oil follows the global oil price and so can fluctuate wildly – the average price fell to just over 20p a litre in April 2020, at the start of the pandemic, but has since risen to about 60p a litre, according to the oil comparison website boilerjuice.com.
Heating oil tends to cost more during
PRICE
the winter months but you can bring down bills by purchasing in advance (emergency deliveries cost more) and by buying larger quantities.
Compare prices from a few different suppliers – the UK & Ireland Fuel Distributors Association lists them by area. Check if your village has an oil syndicate that bulk buys oil to save money, said Jake Civardi of
The Buying Solution, a buying agent.
While oil- fired Agas are cosy and look the part in a country home, they are notoriously costly to run. A survey conducted in 2019 by the range cooker company Blake & Bull found that owners of oil-fired Agas spent an average of £1,078 a year on fuel.
Carol Peett of West Wales Property Finders, a buying agent, reduced her Aga bills by having her cooker converted to electricity, meaning it can be programmed so that hotplates and ovens can be turned off when not in use. “We did this when oil went up last time and the cost saving is huge,” she said. Converting an Aga to electricity starts at £3,763 plus VAT through Blake & Bull.
Jackson-Stops
INSULATE
A quarter of heat is lost through the roof of an uninsulated home, according to the Energy Saving Trust, so insulating the loft is one of the most cost-effective ways to save money.
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings said fibre- based insulation, such as sheep’s wool or hemp, worked well with old buildings because it had good thermal properties and was “breathable”. It is also a renewable resource and can help reduce the level of indoor pollutants. Don’t forget to lag loft hatches, pipes and coldwater tanks, while the society’s website has advice on minimising condensation when loft insulation is installed.
Thermal-lined blinds and curtains can help to retain the heat lost from windows, especially in an older home with single glazing. The estate agency body Propertymark recommended fitting a curtain rail four to six inches higher than the window frame to allow for maximum coverage.
You could even fit a curtain over the front door, said Dawn Carritt from Jackson-Stops estate agency. “It can make a big difference to excluding draughts, particularly through letterboxes,” she added.
DON’T FORGET OUTSIDE
Clear leaves from gutters and check for leaks. Also ensure that fences have no visible signs of rot or decay and that posts are not leaning, said Leigh Barnes of Jacksons Fencing. “You should also clear any debris piled up to the fence as this may cause it to decay faster,” he added.
CHANGE YOUR MINDSET
While switching to low-carbon sources of heating and electricity such as heat pumps and solar panels will be necessary over the long term, right now you may need to embrace hot water bottles or an electric blanket. Using the latter for 30 minutes a night to heat up the bed costs only around 6.7p a week, according to the price comparison website Uswitch.
Stock up on some extra jumpers too, said James Greenwood of Stacks Property Search. “Thermal underwear should be standard for all members of the family,” he added.