March 21, 2009

Want to own an English Country Village?



So, there's an entire English country village for sale. Linkenholt in Southern England consists of 1,500 acres of farmland, 425 acres of wood land, a cricket patch, 21 cottages, and a grand manor house. Oh, and it has about 40 residents. You can have it all (minus the 12th century church and graveyard, because according the real estate agent Time Sherston, "That is owned by God."). It's for sale for a mere $32 million dollars.



Now, really, if I had $32 million dollars, I'd snatch it up in a New York minute. Can you imagine? It's almost as good as owning a castle! You'd get to live in the Grand Manor House, or a cottage if you wanted to and own a really picturesque piece of England.

What would you do if you the money to buy your wildest dream? Actually, I guess the question is, what's your wildest dream? Where would you live? Or what you do? Aside from buying a village or castle or my own tropical island, I'd love to cruise around the world and/or spend a year touring England and Scotland.




Leave a comment telling us what your wildest dream is and you could win a copy "What a Lady Wants" and "A Littlte Bit Wicked", both by Victoria Alexander. I'll draw a winner for the prize next Friday (March 27).
Anna Kathryn

26 comments:

Unknown said...

Lovely idea, but at this age, I don't want to be responsible for the upkeep and repair of so many things. :) It's been so long since I've had extra money, I gave some long and hard throught to what I'd buy. Ya know...I'd give anything for a manicure and a pedicure. *lol*

ginger

Paisley Kirkpatrick said...

Victorian Alexander is one of my most favorite historical writers...you have good taste.

This one is easy for me. I'd move to the Highlands of Scotland in a New York minute. My ancestors on my mom's side came from Loch Lomond and Aberdeen areas and I so feel at home there. I actually did buy a square foot of the Highlands to help raise money to plant trees native to the area. When I got the papers they said I am eligible to be called "Lady" now and I do. :) Anything Scot is good for me - especially those handsome hero hunks.

Sally_Odgers said...

I'd open a publishing company for those books-of-the-heart that don;t stand a chance in the real world. I'd have an associated chain of small cosy bookshops, selling those books. Oh, and I'd definitely pay for my children to have the expensive tratement that would give THEM freedom from two separate problems... and a carer for my mum... and an estate for pets needing homes... and... They Say money doesn't but happiness, but in these cases, it would.

Emma Lai said...

Anna, I've already got both of the books, but I couldn't resist the question.

After paying off all my bills and settling my family, I'd take off for a year long world tour starting in the Far East.

Can you tell I've already put some thought into it? :)

Regencyresearcher said...

If I had enough money I'd buy the village and have it a place authors could live and study and write -- even romance novelists. The book would have to be set in England.
If I couldn't buy the village but had lots and lots of money I'd take a group of friends to England on a touring and research trip. Also would buy on line subscriptions to special libraries.
After paying all medical and other bills accrued by members of the family , of course.

Gwynlyn said...

I'd buy the village and turn it into a living history museum circa 1500 or so. What fun!

My wildest dream, however, is to live in Ireland and Scotland for a while, get to know the people, chase down a few ancestors or their descendants, and write, write, write without the impediments of daily responsibility.

Dreaming is a wonderful thing.

Mary Ricksen said...

I'd travel first. How could I know where I really wanted to live without seeing the place?
But in the end I'd want a decent sized house in the mountains. Probably in North Carolina. I'd see Scotland, Ireland, Amsterdam, Rome, any place I could manage to see. I'd take a cruise to Alaska. I'd do it all, before I got too old.
I'd surprise special loved ones with the gift of their dreams, put my niece through an expensive college, and hire special teachers for her sweet autistic sister.
I know that money couldn't buy me happiness. But I've never had a manicure, or a pedicure either. That would be cool too.
Talk about planning huh?
Oh and lobster all the lobster you could eat, till I never want to see it again. The poor crustaceans.

Becky said...

I would pay off all of my bills and help my family out. I would travel, there are some places in the States that I want to see. I would also travel to Scotland and Ireland. I would definitely buy lots of property so I could start a farm for rescued animals. If I had any money left, I would donate to good causes.

Kytaira said...

I already have the books but wanted to answer as well.

My tastes are very middle class. A better house. Books to go in the house. A better boat for the husband. Books for me to read on the boat. College educations for my kids, nieces and nephew. Books and NOT the ones for college. A housekeeper and a cook so I can spend all day reading books. Did I mention books?

Anonymous said...

I would love to start my own Non profit org...for research with vertigo problems.

Jody said...

My wildest dream would to be able to retire to Scotland and live in the cottage that my ggggrandmothe was born in. We found the cottage in the SW of Scotland near Dundrennan Abbey 1994 and people still live in it as of 2007. Although I know most people want to live in the Highlands and it is a great place to visit with its wonderful vistas, but after 40 years in the frozen tundra, I much prefer the Borders of Scotland with its rich history, picturesque villiages and its kinder winter months.

Unknown said...

i found out a staple gun, is the BEST tool to have

can be use for many useful things arounf the house. lol
my hubby always said, i could have the staple gun, if i left him or versa.

curtains, walls paneling

though i dont recommend using on the car, i thought i could fix the top of the car, the lining falling on kids head with it, didnt work, though my hubby got prettyyy loud

Hanna Rhys Barnes said...

I think I'm living the dream right now. Sitting in a cottage in Wales and writing and reading and traveling. Though to go one step further, if I could figure out how to buy a home and live here I would do it without a second thought. I better get busy on promoting my book! (Shameless Self-Promotion Follows)

Widow's Peak by
Hanna Rhys Barnes
For an excerpt pop over to my website at
www.hannarhys.com

Coming September 23, 2009
from The Wild Rose Press

Nicole North said...

Very interesting, Anna Kathryn! I don't think I'd want to buy an English villiage though (cool as that would be.) If I could do or buy anything, I'd travel first. I'd spend a lot of time in Scotland, naturally, then go lots of other places all over the world. Then I'd probably buy a house or maybe even a castle in Scotland. :)

Anna Kathryn Lanier said...

Great comments everyone. Thanks for stopping by.

A.K.

Unknown said...

Great story. Now, here's a Texas one--not too far from where I live, there's a deserted town called Albert, Texas.A man owned it and put it on eBay to sell.--no takers. I used the idea in my Wayback story for TWRP.
Where would I live--nowhere but here.That's right, I have no desire to live anyplace else--it's not the place, it's the people. Why would I want to go live in some other state or country? No one loves me there. Those who do live here.However, I can tell you many plces I've visited that I've absolutely loved. Celia Yeary

www.celiayeary.com
www.thewildrosepress.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thebookspa
http://twrpcactusrose.blogspot.com

ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS-a Cactus Rose--eBook release, November 2008.
Print available February 27, 2009 from Amazon

Anna Kathryn Lanier said...

Celia, I heard about that Texas town for sale. That would be neat to buy too.

A.K.

Paul McDermott said...

Writer's Challenge in 2 words .... "What if ...?"

1) You discover that, after 15 years of marriage, you and your wife have SHARED THE SAME DREAM (again and again!) dating from WHEN YOU WERE BOTH CHILDREN and had never met ....

2) You discover that the "ruined Chapel" of her dreams (and yours) is a REAL PLACE?

3) You discover that the castle (and the island it stands upon) is FOR SALE @ €700,000???

Well, wouldn't YOU write a story about it!!!

I reckon I'm about half-finished at this moment in time ....

Marianne Evans said...

Travel, travel, travel! That's my fantasy :-) Great Blog, Anna - enjoyed the fantasizing your blog inspired...now back to writing, so I can actually maybe one day afford one! LOL!

Marianne

Anonymous said...

I'd have to pass on the English village and go for the Scottish castle. ;) Or maybe buy a bunch of young buff kilted men!!!

Phyllis Campbell said...

How I wish... It's a lovely piece of land. Sure, I'd love to own it. Let me just write a check... heehee

My wildest dream? I gave up on wild dreams a long time ago. But I would LOVE to visit England for a good month...maybe longer. Don't know if I'd want to live there, but I definitely want to visit. Since I like to write Regencies and Victorians, it would be nice to actually see the places I'm writing about - and not just on the internet.

~Phyllis~

Anna Kathryn Lanier said...

Paul, what a facinating story. What's the name of the book you're writing?

A.K.

LuAnn said...

I'd make sure my children were set with homes and cars (plus insurance) and any babysitting service they needed for the grandkids, then I'd travel the U.S. and be a travel writer!

peggy said...

All my bills paid in full.
a large farm in the country.

robynl said...

my wildest dream is to pay off my brother's farm, buy a place to live for my twin brother, help my one sister pay off their house, help the other one put her daughter through university and donate lots of money to cancer and heart research in memory of my parents. Then I would buy dh the Quad that is his wish and buy the empty property next to our house so he could build the biggest shop to do his woodworking as a hobby.
This should make my family happy and therefore I'd be happy.

George HW Charamba said...

Some of Dick Cheney's Wyoming oil buddies are on a real estate spening spree, due to secretly rigging the energy futures trading all over the globe. They are buying huge ranches in Montana and Wyoming. An English country village and some landed gentry in Egland are having financial irregularities--they are flat broke--and some California sufer type, who struck it rich due to some Byzantine coup in Africa, is going to be a secret, silent partner with some of the landed gentry. Not all these California ("what's up,dude?")surfers are intellectually challenged--idiots. Sme surf and invest in oil exploration in Africa, while obtaining advanced degrees in college.