r/SpottedonRightmove • u/Hot_College_6538 • 1d ago
If depression was a house
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/92664135?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=new-homes&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_NEWTwo free ebikes is a tempting offer to live in a Vivarium estate. Photo 14 gives chills.
•
u/kirkyrise 1d ago
That’s the most soulless housing estate I’ve ever seen. Crammed the maximum number of houses possible in, no greenery, neighbours all staring into your house and grey garden.
I feel sorry for those poor trees that have to look at it.
•
u/tetartoid 1d ago
Picture 13 is truly bleak. I stared at it for several uncomfortable seconds before my soul tried to escape my body.
•
u/dirkios 1d ago
It's like in SIM city when a house goes derelict and goes grey so you see it as a blot in your otherwise pretty city then bulldoze it
→ More replies (2)•
•
u/orchidieus 1d ago
I gave up completely when I saw that photo, what a disservice to the location those houses are. Soulless.
•
u/LonelyOldTown 1d ago
Was going to post this. The house itself isn't overly a problem 30 of them in neat rows is.
•
u/InsertWittyNameRHere 1d ago
Completely agreed. I looked at the house and thought at least that was a blank canvas you can make yours. But that zoomed out picture was a total hellscape
→ More replies (2)•
•
u/LegolasleChat 1d ago
Completely at odds with the area, haven't even tried to blend it in with the surrounding woods. Miserable place.
•
u/Yikes44 1d ago
The scenery backdrop is so beautiful too. It deserved to have something so much nicer built on it.
•
u/LegolasleChat 1d ago
Exactly, imagine having something that could be a feature that blended into that beautiful coastline. But no, millennial grey estate it is.
•
u/bibonacci2 1d ago
Planning team on the council must have got some lovely kick-backs to agree to that planning application. Truly horrendous.
•
•
u/stumac85 1d ago
Plus it's in Torquay, gods waiting room 😂
•
u/eriometer 1d ago
They built it with needing wheelchairs, step-free access and turning circles in mind though.
(which is not a bad thing in itself)•
u/drivingagermanwhip 18h ago
Well, may I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeasts swinging majestically...
•
u/BenzedrinePuffAdders 10h ago
I mean herds of Wildebeest would be preferable rather than the dogging and drug dealing that used to go on there 😂😂😂
•
u/edge2528 1d ago
Exchange the weather boarding for white and it's 90% of all new housing estate. All look like complete shit, all over crowded.
→ More replies (3)•
•
u/Senior-Lettuce-5871 1d ago
Pictures 13 & 14 look like a scene from some sort of near-future prison-society dystopia.
•
•
•
u/Negative-Associate38 1d ago
I kept thinking perhaps it will look better once there's a bit of greenery growing in the gardens - except there's no space to grow much and there's no estate planting either.
•
u/Senior-Lettuce-5871 1d ago
Yes - I thought that might be the answer until I saw they're paved it all over.
•
u/LO6Howie 1d ago
Not a massive fan of being able to make such clear eye contact with neighbours whilst cooking.
•
•
u/notmyprofile23 1d ago
Surely it wouldn’t have cost too much extra to build each house at an offset angle so nobody is looking directly in their neighbours window 🙄
•
u/LO6Howie 1d ago
If it would have cost 50p more the developers would’ve baulked…I’m guessing this must be for the Bristol commuter crowd, as it seems a bit expensive for Torquay?
•
u/Lanky-Conclusion-952 1d ago
The drone shot reminds me of the Jessie Eisenberg movie Vivarium.
•
→ More replies (3)•
•
u/TeikaDunmora 1d ago
Yeah, 13 and 14 feel like they're a set from a movie that is being really unsubtle about its criticism of modern life. A forest with a hundred different shades of green, a sea that's so blue it looks like it's glowing... and a grey rectangle of grey rectangles with massive windows so everyone can look at everyone else's grey lives.
•
•
u/Flat-Struggle-155 1d ago
Damn that estate is ghastly, truly bleak.
•
u/Unknown-Librarian664 1d ago
Lessons taken from armed services planning and architects.
Grey, glum, godforsaken, gruesome and grim.
•
•
u/Bisjoux 1d ago
Photo 13 looks like AI but then you look at the other photos and realise it’s real. How in earth did these get planning permission?
•
u/Plastic_Length8618 1d ago
It looks like the developers ditched the architects after they got planning permission and made everything as cheap and grey as possible.
There are a couple of architect-y details like the recessed gutters still in there but apart from the bricks the colours and materials are bleak.
Recessed spot lights are very old hat now but combining them with dangly plastic pendants everywhere is just bizarre.
→ More replies (1)•
u/Hot_College_6538 1d ago
I think they must be AI pictures, surely at least one property would be occupied before the whole estate was finished. It's the having an whole unoccupied estate being 'moving in ready' that is creepy AF for me.
•
u/TimelyEstimate2860 1d ago
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a grey one and a beige one
And a grey one and a beige one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
•
u/notmyprofile23 1d ago
I came here to quote this. At least in the song the little boxes had some colour. The most cheerful colour in this lot is the wood flooring. And such sterile “gardens”
→ More replies (1)•
•
u/PublicPossibility946 1d ago
I feel genuine pity for the people who live further up the hill who used to have a lovely sea view but it is now blighted by that shit stain of a development.
•
•
u/Rich_27- 1d ago
Picture 9
Yes you can open the massive glass door into the kitchen and have the neighbours looking directly in as you eat a pot noodle in your pants
•
u/ness-xergling 1d ago
Nice floor. That's it. I can't even begin to tell you how much I detest the kitchen.
•
•
u/forameus2 1d ago
The house itself is...fine, I guess. The very definition of blank canvas that you could do a lot with. But once you're outside...ooft.
Reminds me of the ones they built across from me. When I moved in to my house, there was a big empty patch of wasteground across the road. Said wasteground used to be an old bus depot, which was apparently not something you could build on because of those pesky things like massively toxic diesel seeping underground. Seems like it isn't a problem to the likes of Cala though.
Anyway, they built a huge number of identical new houses, all clearly of the mould of five bedrooms when they'd have made a really good four. All going for substantially more than I'd paid for my own far more secluded 4 bedroom house. Every single one of them far too close to their neighbours. I don't get where the attraction is in spending far too much money to basically live on top of someone else.
→ More replies (1)
•
u/B23vital 22h ago
If depression was a housing estate more like.
I actually cant stand this american style, straight streets, we dont have the space for that so you end up with houses squashed on top of each other with tiny gardens and no greenery anywhere.
Wheres all the colour going from the world man
•
u/accepted_paralogism 1d ago
"Highly desirable location"
I dispute that if the whole place is rendered in shades of sick baby poo.
→ More replies (4)
•
u/chrsphr_ 1d ago
I don't hate this? For a new build estate, they've at least made more interesting external material choices than your usual Barrat new build estate.
Yeah there's no greenery, of course that takes time to establish. But the area is surrounded by trees, which is nice.
Plus solar and heat pump - this is built to a higher spec than most new builds.
•
u/simon-g 1d ago
Yeah, likewise. Plant some screening outside the kitchen window and that problem goes away. Decorate the inside to your taste. I’m in a 30s semi and plenty of people overlook my garden (or could see into my kitchen) too.
The minimum spec solar is infuriating, 6 panels where 16+ could go and may not even run your heat pump in the winter.
•
u/luk71 1d ago
I think it actually looks quite good! It’s an empty shell so of course it looks soulless.
The landscaping is abysmal and the outdoor space is really tiny though.
And the price for the location is quite off. Other than that, I really don’t believe this belongs in this sub….
•
u/bluebird2912 21h ago
I'm not a fan if this design but I've stayed in Airbnb's that are like this and it's actually extremely pleasant. It's over hated which I get but it's not anywhere near as bad as some people think.
•
u/JBWalker1 1d ago
I think peoples biggest issue by far is having the quite short garden for such a big house and the lack of privacy. The house opposite you at the back is so close so you have such little privacy considering you have large and floor to ceiling windows. Can read text on your neighbours tshirt and what they're making for breakfast.
The developer even put in normal picket fences with big gaps too, it's like they're trying to make seeing into the homes opposite as visible as possible, but in reality it's probably because they use less wood. Like in image 2 if the fence was just like 0.5m taller and more solid so you cant see through it then you'd have loads more privacy. Thats the first change I'd make and I bet loads would copy me.
The house itself is very nice. It's pretty big. Nice big windows too, people normally complain windows are too small on new builds. Once you've moved all your stuff in it'll look nice.
People complain about lack of greenery but it's a brand new estate and we can see loads of trees are planted included in the front and back of the homes so in a few years once they've grown a bit it'll look better and hopefully provide more privacy. People always say this about new builds when trees haven't grown yet. It would be nice if developers put in larger trees though. 3-5 year old 3 meter tall trees are very cheap, I don't know why they don't spend the extra £100 for those since it'll increase the value by much more than that.
But yeah 8/10 house. 3/10 garden. 3/10 neighbourhood layout/privacy.
•
u/Bisjoux 1d ago
We’ve got a housing estate being built near us. Everyone has been complaining because the developers have done the landscaping on the entrance to the development even before most of the houses have been built (and watering liberally in a hose pipe ban area).
Looking at those photos there’s very little landscaping and even less possibility of doing some decent planting. It’s the sort of place I’d imagine a reality tv series being set.
•
u/_ham_sandwich 22h ago
Yeah was gonna say the same. These look way better than your standard new build brick housing estate imo. Those I do find truly depressing.
•
u/whiskerstwitching 1d ago
Yeah, I like it. Imagine it with plants, art and soft furnishings etc. and the estate is surrounded by greenery. In a few years it will look more lived in and part of the landscape
•
u/RoutinePeach3117 1d ago
That group shot of them all lined up regimentally, reminds me of that theme tune “little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky, little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same”
•
u/MissKellieUk 1d ago
I was thinking-this is nice and clean and I would love to live in it. Until I saw the group photo. That’s super creepy to me somehow.
•
u/RoutinePeach3117 1d ago
It’s just too much like a simulation to me, everyone will have to have the same car, or they’ll mess up the neighbourhood
•
u/OK_Cake05 1d ago
To be fair, it’s a brand new build; up to the owners to had their own spin and creativity too it
•
u/Briglin 1d ago
It's a bit like Bracknell, grey floor grey walls, grey everything. Bracknell has grey tarmac, grey buildings and grey skies.
In all seriousness they are nicely designed, someone has put some effort in. Just a pity they are so close. They will pick up once you put some colour in them, warm the floors with some timber or Amtico, the walls with some panelling and texture.
You are criticising a blank canvas before it's been painted.
Lile this
•
•
•
u/ExistentialScream 1d ago
It's a new build. Of course it looks sterile and empty. Nobody lives there.
How much warmth and character are you expecting from an empty new build estate?
→ More replies (1)
•
u/steve8319 1d ago
I know this location well as my wife grew up half a mile away. This feels very overpriced for the area.
She just sold a 4 bed detached with partial sea views (admittedly in bad condition) for £290k
•
u/AlternativeGreedy787 1d ago
Estate agent gives you the keys and a few packs of Prozac when you move in.
•
u/cactusdotpizza 1d ago
You could 100% get away with the houses themselves if even an minute of effort was put into making the neighborhood look appealing
•
•
u/themoralgatekeeper 1d ago
I don’t mind it. Am I depressed?! Soulless for sure but surely it’s just a completely blank canvas and you could do loads to add some personality.
•
u/Hot_College_6538 1d ago
and if you need inspiration just look out of any window and see what your neighbours have done in their identical house, while they look back and laugh at your pathetic efforts.
Maybe I should talk to someone.
•
•
•
•
•
u/dudleymunta 1d ago
Enjoy looking straight into your neighbour’s house while you have your breakfast.
•
•
•
u/Working_on_Writing 1d ago
Hello and welcome to sad griege houses, for sad griege millenials, by Werner Herzhog.
This house is sad for it is not unique, it knows that it has no identifying features, no soul, it is instead a collection of boxes which looked good on a computer screen, printed as if on a giant printer into concrete reality. It is a house for a millenial family. They will buy a live, laugh, love sign for their griege kitchen. They will not live, laugh, love, but instead drift through a soulless consumerist nothing until they die.
•
u/BlackJackKetchum 1d ago
Different tastes and all that, but shiny - rather than matt - switches and plug points on dove grey walls is a bold choice.
•
•
u/KaiserDilhelmTheTurd 1d ago
When the builders won’t even put up a decent privacy fence, you gotta wonder what the rest of the build quality is gonna be like. Awful is my guess.
•
u/accepted_paralogism 1d ago
To be fair though, the decision to put a fence in the middle of a tiny garden, to hide the inconvenience that remains, is sublime.
•
•
u/readthistoo 1d ago
Let’s be fair, they tried to make it homely by putting a barbecue on the 10ft deep patio!
•
u/Recent_South_6108 1d ago
If you are in that middle row of houses, your house is looked into both front and rear, nice lol
•
u/James_Vowles 1d ago
i like how everyone's balconies are facing away from the sea. No garden is the worst bit, everything else can be changed
•
•
u/Portsmouth_Sweep 1d ago
Pictures 13 & 14 are shockingly depressing!
But like almost all new build estates, it’s the lack of privacy that stops me even considering one.
They all have so many windows overlooking every aspect of your property that you may as well live in a greenhouse!
•
u/truman_chu 1d ago
That estate plot could’ve been a dream. Even those house styles with half the number of houses would’ve been lush.
•
u/Xanavaris 1d ago
From the description: “The superior quality of these homes, an idyllic setting, and an exclusive and highly desirable location have come together in a unique package that ensures Palace Gardens truly stands out from the crowd, resulting in the dream coastal lifestyle.“
Hmmmm… 🤨
•
u/Fuzzy_Cry_1031 1d ago
I wonder who buys these? Not like there's many jobs near Torquay that pay enough to afford these. And it's clearly aimed at younger couples
•
u/Level-Dog-7630 1d ago
I live near this. It’s truly as horrific yet depressing (from the outside) in real life as the pictures suggest.
•
•
u/Whiskersmum 1d ago
That’s got to be the worst designed lot of houses I’ve ever seen! With such a beautiful backdrop too! Absolutely dreadful!
•
u/AwakeOrStillDreaming 1d ago
Why would you want your house to look like an industrial building!
And why did they choose that colour for the sockets, they stick out like a sore thumb!
The whole house just makes me feel uncomfortable in a way I can’t quite put into words!
The whole estate looks like something out of a dystopian horror film.
•
u/Diddleymaz 1d ago
There’s no privacy at all. Huge bifolds open on to a patio that has your neighbours house 20 feet away?
•
u/CosmicCrazyCat 23h ago
My first ‘nope’ was picture 4. Tiny postage stamp garden and over looked by more than one property. The size and layout of the windows was creeping me out
No I don’t know why. It was just a fat nope on picture 4
Picture 14 the nope became a FFS HELL NO
that’s army barracks or an open prison, not a home
•
•
u/Late-Champion8678 23h ago
I imagine this is what purgatory could be like.
Entering the estate from surrounding greenery and other colours to desaturation upon entry.
•
•
•
•
u/m39583 1d ago
Is it really that terrible?
It's a new build house, of course it's empty and soulless.
And people complain about the houses being close, together, well we can't all live in a detached house with an acre of land each.
In cities a lot of housing is even attached in long terraces.
It needs some greenery but that takes time to establish, I imagine it will look very different in 10years.
•
u/Single-Position-4194 1d ago
It's not just the house, the whole estate looks awful. And in Torquay of all places too! Shameful.
•
u/caspararemi 1d ago
Thought that house was fine and would look great once lived in and the garden had matured, then hit photo 14 and it just looks like someone in Cities Skylines has copied-pasted entire residential zones.
•
•
u/gravitasgravitas 1d ago edited 1d ago
Don't know what everyone's moaning about. I think this is a great direction for our prisons to go in.
•
•
u/BiscuitCrumbsInBed 1d ago
That last photo of all the houses looks like something out of a film. A bleak film. Also hate the fact you can see through the fence, straight into the neighbours house. A street were everyone obviously has to become friends instantly!
•
•
u/Outrageous_Koala5381 1d ago
that cladding is truly awful. it's warehouse like ! And 2 storey's of it in the house to the left !
the flat roof garages are awful - side of pic 1.
why's there no window above the garage?
They didn't want solar panels integrated into the roof - and broke the rule about a 30cm gap around all sides by the looks of it! From a practical point of view non-integrated solar is easier to upgrade - but this looks awful.
•
•
•
u/strangey071 1d ago
The drone shot literally screams ‘abandon all hope ye who enter here’ a council planning meeting passed this shite!
•
•
u/ConfusionOwn8378 1d ago
I absolutely love the layout and architectural style of this house. However, that estate is GRIM. It is such a shame.
We viewed a very high spec house when we were looking to move, beatiful floorplan, nice finishes inside, great blank canvas to inject some love and personality... But the estate was awful like this, crammed in, no amenities, nowhere to go for a walk... Hard pass.
•
u/Wild_Clade 1d ago
Agree with this. I like the actual house and it would be a great space to make a home in. However, the overlooked gardens and lack of space is horrible. It would be interesting what it looks like in 10-20yrs when trees and planting have grown.
•
u/badger906 1d ago
Don’t understand why anyone would want to move to a modern development. They’re all so over looked. Zero privacy.
•
•
u/LookAtMaDog 1d ago
Image 13 looks like a dystopian hellscape.
When all the robots round this all up and put us into camps, they'll be building houses like that.
•
u/Raineach_ 1d ago
Christ this house is hideous but the estate itself is the absolute worst I've seen. I wouldn't even live there if they were paying ME £675k.
•
•
u/alpha919191 1d ago
A strange back garden with a retaining wall in the middle of it. Then a 2m(??) Wide strip of garden beneath that. Bizarre. Why not put the retaining wall on the boundary line between gardens.
•
u/ThrustersToFull 1d ago
I'd say it has enormous potential but I'd have every room painted and totally transformed because in its current state it's horrible.
•
•
u/pointlesstips 1d ago
It's weird as it has more elements I like than any other UK new builds I've seen, yet the overall result is still shite.
•
•
u/dyedinthewoolScot 1d ago
Pic 13 is straight out of the Sims or Minecraft or some shit
How utterly drab 😬
•
•
u/eriometer 1d ago
They are very very firm on where you can put your TV, aren't they. Here. ONLY HERE. ONLY WALL MOUNT. It has been decided.
Handy for the daily 2 minutes hate though.
•
u/_AngelicVenom_ 1d ago
Before I saw it was in that horrific estate where all the houses are the same, I thought it was a commercial or warehouse conversion.
Maybe they got commercial or warehouse architects doing a favour for their mate for a few pints?!
•
•
u/Xanavaris 1d ago
What developers think they can palm off on mindless wage-slave drones * ahem * customers.
•
u/Kanaima85 1d ago
You ever read Funny Bones (in a dark dark town there was a dark dark street....)?
This is that but grey instead of dark...
•
u/bedevere1975 1d ago
The planners should be ashamed at passing that estate. The house isn’t that terrible, just needs different context.
•
u/No_Doubt_About_That 1d ago
I feel like compared to other countries’ rivieras, we did get the short end of the stick.
•
u/EcoNorfolk 1d ago
Could it be any more overlooked? I thought grey kitchens had died ? Why put an old fashioned banister in something trying to be modern?
That “garden” is appalling and they have totally ignored the balcony aspect. Just shocking on many levels.
•
u/mgush5 1d ago
The fact there is a strip of grass at the bottom is infuriating as you'd have to buy a mower jus to do that, or spend mover to bring up the level with the other part or add astroturf.
For somereason, I don't understand I like it. I see a lot of potential there and it means you can add a fuckton of potted plants and not need to think about mowing. To expensive though for what it is
→ More replies (1)
•
•
•
u/DizzyDetective 1d ago
They all look like the houses you don't deliver to on the Paperboy video-game. I expected to see a hearse parked on one of the driveways.
•
•
•
u/Creepy_Guide_9641 23h ago
My parents loved moving house and every time they did it, they would paint the interiors magnolia to make it more appealing to buyers. It was meant to make the house seem like a blank canvas and was supposedly easier to sell at slightly higher value. I hope this is what is happening here 🫤
•
•
u/ConsequenceApart4391 23h ago
It reminds me of a TikTok film recap where they get stuck in a housing town and every time they try and escape they get back to the house. A demonic baby ends up on their doorstep.
You just KNOW that everyone that lives there is a 9-5 corporate soulless being that claims they’re one big happy family assuming they have one
→ More replies (1)
•
•
•
•
•
•
u/dalehitchy 21h ago
I don't mind the house (though I wish it had more greenery in the garden. It's essentially a blank canvas for the owner to colour themselves.
The estate however souless
•
•
u/Desperate-Calendar78 20h ago
For the modern remote worker, forget working from home - live from work.
•
•
•
•
u/WeeeeeUuuuuuWeeeUuuu 19h ago
The entirety of british housing is 'if depression was a house' and yet you pick THIS as an example? What's wrong with you?
•
•
•
•
•
u/BlondBitch91 18h ago
I always thought an estate this soulless would be in Milton Keynes or Dunstable or somewhere like that.
How do you build something with so little personality in such a stunningly beautiful part of the world as the South Devon coast?
•
•
u/Optimuswaves 18h ago
i kinda like it no bullshit fireplace,no lead pipes no 60+ year old wiring or asbestos
•
•
•
u/unnaturaldoings 17h ago
Ugh living in this would be my worst nightmare! So cramped on top of each other. every room overlooked from every angle. So grey and dystopian. Souless box with zero charm. Not even for £500 could you make me live there!
•
•
•
u/BenzedrinePuffAdders 10h ago
Anstey’s Cove Road? That used to be our walk with the kids down to the sea. Lovely little walk. Surrounded by trees and greenery Also a dogging site at night. 🤨
•
u/camfield 9h ago
Location & estate aside, this is the kind of floorplan that should attract new buyers. Garage with internal access into a utility room is so functional. Open plan living is great for socialising at the end of the day. Proper sized bedrooms & ensuites.
I agree the cookie cutter build isn't great for privacy, and there is no greenery (yet), but that'll grow
→ More replies (1)
•
u/Rude-Cover-8727 9h ago
Pic 13 is hardly appealing seeing them all crammed in together. The house will be fine with some colour.
•
u/furstyferret1981 8h ago
It's like Vivarium! When will this stupid obsession with grey go out of fashion!
•
•
•
•
u/RedWife77 1d ago
Wow, better be an exhibitionist! Every room overlooked, and a weird grassy gully at the bottom of your garden… the dark little cubby in the ‘primary’ is the only place where you won’t be observed by the neighbours. It’s like living in a panopticon.
The drone shots are amusing me though - so much vibrant colour in the sea and landscape then this grey and dun estate plopped in the middle.