Looking for somewhere not more than 30 Mins from Boston, very high budget (Worcester: house, to buy)

[MovingForward]

Your words:

"Which areas are in New England ? or is New England in Massachusettes ? is boston in New england ? I can't see it on a map."

Give it up, pal.

[NY'er lost in MA]

ok- let's all settle down here and just answer the questions. No need to become rude.

I do think P-Man has a point. Is Wales part of the United Kingdom or just England? How far is Glasgow from Edinburgh? They look pretty close...
Is Scotland part of England? How far inland is Inverness? Sorry to call you out, but I doubt you know the answers MovingFWD.

[RichCapeCod]

I have German relatives (my wife is German - she was war reparations....). Anyway, one of them was visiting and looking at a map of the states and asked about driving to Nevada (from Cape Cod)! Another wanted to drive to Buffalo NY from the Cape. Neither had any idea of the distances involved.

I think this individual might consider accessing the Southerby website for their desired property as a start.


Rich

[ogre]

Originally Posted by NY'er lost in MA

ok- let's all settle down here and just answer the questions. No need to become rude.

I do think P-Man has a point. Is Wales part of the United Kingdom or just England? How far is Glasgow from Edinburgh? They look pretty close...
Is Scotland part of England? How far inland is Inverness? Sorry to call you out, but I doubt you know the answers MovingFWD.

This is getting entertaining! Actually, I can see both sides. At first it seemed problematic that P-man wanted to be within half an hour of Boston but wanted to consider Vermont, and was looking for an old historic house of 15k sq. ft. and apparently didn't realize how unusual such houses are in the Boston area. On the other hand, Lost is absolutely right that many of us would have no more knowledge of England's geography in detail. The lack of knowledge of what properties are available in this area seems to me to be very analogous to requests, seen frequently on here, for info about nice houses in nice towns when the person expects to spend way less than it costs for a house anywhere near Boston. Those people and P-man both simply show a lack of knowledge of the area by someone who doesn't live there. Also, I can see how someone more familiar with the scale of most European countries might not fully appreciate the size of the U.S., and could look at a map of the whole country and see how small the New England states look compared to the entire U.S., and might get an erroneous picture of how close Vermont is to Boston.

Anyway . . . I'll answer a couple of questions, to be helpful, on the assumption that P-man is for real. If he's not, well, at least this helps keep this entertaining thread going.

I think Pondhopper answered most of P-man's list of questions. A little more detail on nor'easters. In terms of the actual weather conditions, nor'easters are rather powerful low-pressure storms. They rarely if ever occur during summer. In spring and fall they bring high winds, heavy clouds, and lots of rain. In winter, they bring high winds, heavy clouds, and lots of snow. If P-man wants a house on the coast, the main concern would be whether the house might sustain damage from waves. This does happen with some especially powerful nor'easters when houses are built on low-lying coastal land. With especially powerful storms, even houses several hundred yards back from the water line can be badly damaged. A house built up on a high bluff should be safe.

Freeway, expressway, interstate: A freeway is a limited-access high-speed highway, usually divided by a median, with entry and exit available only at high-speed interchanges, and no direct access to any buildings that may stand next to the road. I don't know what the term would be in the UK, but freeways are the same idea as the Autobahns in Germany (except that all of our highways have speed limits). As I understand it, toll roads may be considered freeways, since the term "freeway" refers to the free flow of traffic, not to the idea that one may drive on the road for free. Many people use the term expressway to mean the same thing as freeway. However, some also regard an expressway as any high-speed road, whether or not access is as limited as it is on a freeway. An interstate is a freeway that is part of the long-distance, nationwide network of highways named The Interstate Highway System.

Universities in the Manchester area: Keep in mind that in the U.S., in addition to universities, there are many small liberal arts colleges, where the curriculum emphasizes broad study of basic subjects in the arts and sciences, literature, sociology, philosophy, theology, etc., rather than specific professional training. Some of these schools offer no graduate-level study, while others may offer a small number of graduate programs, usually at no higher than the master's level. Two liberal arts colleges in the North Shore area (suburbs north of Boston) are Salem State College, a public college funded partially by the state of MA, and Gordon College, a private school with an emphasis on a Christian view of the world, with students from the full range of Christian denomonations. Neither is famous the way Oxford or Cambridge are, but both can provide a good education.

Another American institution is the large state-run university, with anywhere from 10,000 to 60,000 students. Some of these have longstanding reputations as highly prestigious schools. Most do not have quite this reputation, but all are important centers of research, in addition to educating large numbers of students, usually at relatively modest cost since they are partially funded by the governments of their states. The nearest large state university to Boston's north shore area is the University of New Hampshire, which is perhaps a half hour drive from the MA-NH border. The nearest universities with highly prestigious reputations are all in or very close to the city of Boston itself.

Speaking of which, this thread is somewhat educational, in its entertaining way. Take care, all.

[MovingForward]

Yes. Poor Providential Man. He can't be bothered to actually read up on the American city to which he has chosen to immigrate. He can't even place it on a map. Give me a break: you people are being played.

NY'er Lost in MA: I can't answer those questions without looking it up. But if I had chosen to live in one of those places, I'm pretty sure I would have done some research before making my choice. Or, maybe like PM, it would be better just to pull the name of a city out of the air and bank my whole future on it. Come. On.

[NY'er lost in MA]

I understand- to each their own. Everyone has their own way of doing things.

Those that truly think this is a joke can simply boycott this thread- no need to agonize over it folks.

[ogre]

Yep, we're big boys and girls. If we decide at some point that we don't like what's going on here, we'll move on!

[Providential Man]

Well, as entertaining as this thread has become, it's also been very informative as well. When I think about it, MovingForward has a point, which I have started to take up with myself. I should indeed invest more time in learning about the area and it's history. That said, MovingForward: you have to realise that unless your american, you can't really understand anything about much in the US with regards to geography. New England does not appear on my map! Search USA map on google and you'll see no mention of it on the map. I should have searched wikipedia - clear explanation!

It's just so large (the US). I can't say this for a fact, because I just don't know, however I think you could fit in the whole of western europe and some in the US.

As far as banking my future on it, I'm fortunate enough that I simply don't have to. Choosing boston as my american hub, with a view to potentially permanently staying is a commercial decision. I do like boston more than most other places I have been to in the US (not that many though).

I must say, that if it were not for this forum, I would have been a bit stumped (embarressed to appear so ignorant in person, but this is the beauty of anonymous forums, can't be seen just heard! - So no need to feel embaressed)

I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to awnser my questions, which have been both informative and extremely helpful. I would also like to thank MovingForward who has brought to my attention that fact that I need to spend some time educating myself about the US!

My next step when I'm next in US is rent a car and drive around, checking out all the areas suggested, I do think I have found a perfect place!

Once again, everyone has been really nice and helpful, and I'm thankful for the ability to ask questions like this and get awnsers from those in the know!

[Providential Man]

Thought I should contribute something myself!

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland : consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Each is a country in their own right even if they are basically run from London. They do however have some legislation of their own, but this is more akin to federal vs state etc. Not included is the Republic of Ireland(they even use Euros not Pounds!)

[MovingForward]

If you had been to Boston, you would know what New England is.