Enjoy lazy days on the water with a home on the river

In fact, according to Knight Frank’s Waterfront Review published last year, the average price of properties by water was 49 per cent more than that for properties with exactly the same characteristics located about a mile from the water with no waterfront view.

The greatest premium was on properties on an estuary, which cost an average of 72 per cent more than equivalent properties. Lakeside/lochbank properties and coastal homes commanded 68 per cent and 61 per cent respectively. But even homes on inland rivers had an average uplift of 21 per cent.

Knight Frank noted: “The waterfront property market has benefited from changing demand patterns that have emerged as a result of the pandemic, in particular the search for more open space and greenery. Successive lockdowns have also acted as a catalyst for those considering a change in lifestyle, while the greater adoption of working from home has boosted buyers’ flexibility when it comes to location.”

As a result, the annual rate of price increase for waterfront properties this time last year was 12 per cent.

So what’s the attraction? Well, if you need to be told, maybe you’ll never truly understand. Water attracts wildlife, can provide food and leisure opportunities, and it undeniably has a calming effect on anyone who cares to spend any time near it.

Sold yet? If not, take a look at the following three properties and you might well end up longing to live by a river.

Badger’s Holt is a detached property on high ground in Collingham, it has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a large open-plan living-dining-kitchen, utility room, lounge and morning room, as well as a double garage. Best of all, it has superb views across 1.25 acres of gardens, which slope right down to the wooded banks of the River Wharfe, where the property has riparian fishing and boating rights.

At Thorpe Underwood, Heron’s Hill is a detached family house with extensive water frontage and private jetty on the River Ouse – mooring and fishing rights included – and is set in about an acre of gardens.
It has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, large living kitchen, study, second kitchen (ideal to create a self-contained annexe around), dining room, garden room, and laundry room. There is also extensive parking, a double garage and a barn.

Finally, Church View is a detached family home built in 2008 off the main street in Asenby, just across the River Swale from Topcliffe. Built in 2008, it has solar panels and an air-source heat-pump, providing hot water and temperature regulation throughout the year. The house has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, reception hall, open-plan kitchen and dining room, utility room, garden room and double-height lounge.
Outside, there are gardens, with a seating area and terraced vegetable garden, running right down to the riverbank, where the current owners enjoy fishing.