Grosvenor Court, Heaton Moor
What a contrast! We walked through the door, looked at each other and said, “It's almost decent.” A good amount of space in a convenient spot for sensible money. The only real downsides are the stairs (it's on the 2nd floor) and the lack of outdoor space - emphasised by the views over other people's beautiful gardens.

The Ashleys, Heaton Moor
Despite being a very similar overall concept to Grosvenor Court, The Ashleys had a distinct old-folks-home smell and feel to it with lots of odd gold fittings. The hallways were utterly disgusting with pink and black triangular carpets and ivy-leaf borders and wallpaper. The view was not up to much either. We nosed around and nosed out again.

Brunswick Street, Withington
Another top-floor flat, this time in the eaves of a chopped-up house. While it was all perfectly clean and plain it would start feeling very cramped by the time we got a bit of furniture up there. That and you can't see out of the windows...

The Cottage, High Lane, Chorlton
What? Grrr! It's a cottage! We had fun and games getting through the gate which our Boltonian estate agent couldn't figure out - she told us several times that she had a code for it but the closest thing to a code-pad was, well, a keyhole. In the end it wasn't locked at all, all it needed was a good manly shove. The house had character by the bucketload and two really nice big bedrooms, but (and this is a big BUT) the place has been totally hemmed in by other buildings and was very dark and oppressive with a bit of a peculiar layout. We don't have much of a handle on Chorlton, but really it's not so good for transport. A shame really.

Crossway Didsbury
This two-up-two-down in the middle of Didsbury has been on the market for a little while and with good reason - it was very small and had a whole array of fitted wardrobes which would really make it very difficult to fit anything of our own in. It all desperately needed stripping out and starting again. It was also the most expensive place we had seen to date. We concluded that Didsbury is generally rather over-inflated and anything we might be able to afford.

Barlow Moor Court
Another flat along the same lines as the two in Heaton Moor - this time in a close full of 60s blocks half way between Didsbury and Chorlton. Good big bedrooms, and a decent kitchen but no wiggle room on furniture so not an option. No outside space either.

Lyme Street, Heaton Mersey
So close but so far. Another two-up-two-down on a good leafy street. It was empty, plain (albeit woodchip) and even had a back yard and useful looking cellar. The only trouble was that the brand new kitchen was not really quite a kitchen. It looked a bit like they had run out of money and forgotten to put in any cupboards or even a cooker. If it had a kitchen we might have taken it. But it didn't.

What a day. Despite some promising leads we ended up deciding that nothing was quite fitting the bill. We resolved that if we keep looking we will be able to find a house (rather than a flat) which actually meets our needs. We certainly know what we are looking for now and can bide our time until it turns up. More pictures are available in the gallery...