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Touring Countryside Road: An Affordable Freehold Landed Estate That’s Spacious Starting From $3.38 Million
Published 8 Oct 2023 |
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10min read
BY TJPublished 8 Oct 20232 comments | 10min read
BY TJ
TJ's interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one's square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
Today we’re off to the Lentor area, which is pretty large. So to be more specific, we’re heading to Countryside Road. The enclave we’re touring is bounded by Lentor Plain, Yio Chu Kang Road, Lentor Avenue and Lentor Loop. It stands out for being the most spacious housing estate that I’ve seen so far in 2023! I counted at least FOUR huge playgrounds within a few minutes walk of the houses, which are mainly terrace units and semi-Ds, with a few detached properties.
Let’s go take a look now!
Despite being near Yio Chu Kang Gardens, which we viewed a few weeks back, the area feels totally different. This is going to sound a bit corny but it really does feel like the countryside! There was just so much space, so everything felt a lot more relaxed and peaceful.
This is the drive in, or the walk in. The estate is about 16 minutes walk from the closest MRT (Lentor.)This is a very expansive landed area, so there are actually several landed enclaves here. Unfortunately, it’s too vast to cover everything in one visit, so we’ll just look at the Countryside houses today but you can see some of the other houses on the other side of the road (shown above.)The first glimpse you get of Countryside estate is of this huge playground.
It is one of four VERY large playgrounds (none of which were being used, which was surprising as I would have thought there would be more kids around, given that the estate has three primary schools nearby (St. Nicks, Andersen Primary and Mayflower Primary.)
Opposite the playground is a row of terrace houses, mostly left in original condition from the 90s. (Many houses were completed in 1999 by Seletar Properties, and range from 1,817 sq ft to 6,299 sq ft, and have features common to the houses of the area, such as double volume living rooms and split living-dining. There are about 245 houses in the Countryside estate.)Next to the outdoor equipment is a small covered platform (left of the photo.)Here’s a close-up of the equipment, if you were wondering what they have. (I must be honest: the equipment is not very exciting. The best thing about the playground is the space!)The space is so open and large – yes, it’s zoned as a park, so you don’t have to worry about more properties popping up on the space, and there’s a path (with seating) winding through it.)Past the shaded platform is more space, and then the Lentor Loop road. Which takes you to other landed estates near The Countryside.I was also surprised to see a bus stop within the estate! It’s a bit like Opera estate in that respect, but much more serene. (Also no amenities within the estate, unfortunately, but one can’t have everything.)The neighbours appear to be quite responsible (about preventing mosquito breeding) as I saw someone fogging early in the morning.Which is why I’m turning round and walking in the other direction!We pass another landed enclave, Fudu Park, to the left.A quick peek down Fudu Park.You can cut through to the interior of The Countryside from behind the outdoor equipment/park, but I want to see the rest of the estate so I’ll continue walking down Lentor Loop.We reach the junction of Countryside Walk and the condo, Bullion Park, so I take a right down Countryside Walk.More terrace units here.Despite the fact that the properties are terraces, the roads are so empty of parked cars! (Often, roads with terrace houses are a PAIN to drive through because there are cars parked on both sides. This was early on a weekend morning and not a weekday, when houseowners may have taken their cars to work.)
But perhaps not surprising, as many terrace houses here have very generous porches. I saw a corner terrace that could house four cars!
Closer view of how large the car parking space within the house is.Nice black and white blinds.At the end of the street, you do see a few cars, but it no way does the road feel cluttered or difficult to navigate.There is some empty green space behind I envy this house which has so much empty land next to it!Then we reach a T-junction. The left is a short cul-de-sac, whilst the right is a through road. (Looking at the cul-de-sac now and, as you can see, again broad and empty streets.)The corner terraces here are also very big – look at how much space is in between the two of them!Let’s head down the cul-de-sac first.I think it’s easier for you to gauge the parking space when the cars are inside the property – I’d like to point out that this is an inter-terrace.Another photo for you to see how much land corner terraces here have.At this point, I suddenly realised something: a lot of the properties here are single loading!! i.e. single rows of houses with no parallel row of properties directly in front or behind. (They’re separated by a road or something.)
This is a huge benefit in crowded Singapore as it gives you more breathing room for your neighbours (and allows you to be more fond of them!) It usually means that the houses are less noisy, more airy and brighter!
Reached the end of the road – no through road here so not much to see. (Behind the houses is The Lentor Residence, an elderly-care facility.)Semi-Ds on the other side – the first we’ve seen on our walk today.We’ve seen all there is to see, so let’s head back now.That’s the green space we saw earlier. I believe it is zoned as a park too.That’s where we came from.Continuing down the road – this is the most crowded the road gets. As you can see there are quite a few cars along the road, but the road is still nice and wide enough to drive through with ease. I think it helps that, unlike Luxus Hills, the road is not broad enough to have 3 cars fit side by side, so we can only have one row of cars. (And of course, the house owners kindly all parked along one side.)This is where the path we saw in the playground earlier leads.The other side of the path is also nice, wide and green.Another single-loading row of houses.Still no dustbins in side to reserve parking space!Ah looks like it is possible to rebuild higher here, though not much higher.Spoke too soon, the dustbins are out in sight now.As you can see, Bullion Park is the only high-rise in sight.According to a sign by the road, the corner house on the right is for sale (at least at the time of visiting.) At the time of writing, this was the one listing for sale ($4.48m for a corner terrace.)Here’s the house in question.More dustbins. But I stand by what I say about this estate being spacious, because of the number of playgrounds so close to each other!Lovely gardening.
Oh on the note of gardening, the other thing I liked about this estate was that residents were very neat with their gardening attempts. So their plants and pots didn’t block the pedestrian path and made it possible to actually walk on the paths, instead of on the road. That’s probably another reason the estate felt expansive.
Down another street.All the detached houses were clustered around this corner, if memory serves. (It’s the junction of Lentor Avenue and Yio Chu Kang Road. However, I couldn’t spot any shortcuts through the houses down to the main road here.)One of the detached houses in the estate.And another.One of the most modern houses in the area.We turn the corner and now it’s semi-Ds in sight.This is what they look like.Looking at the house above, it seems it’s possible to redevelop the area above the car porch into a balcony.At the end of the street, we reach a row of houses, separated from the street by a canal.As you can see, it’s apparently also the place to park in the estate. (But note how considerate everyone is, parking on the same side of the road?)That’s the canal. Does it look like the houses on the other side are on slightly higher ground?I turn to the left, and the path appears to lead somewhere, so let’s go take a look.Ah, it takes you to the main road. Look to the right and this is what you see. To the right.
There’s a bus stop in both directions but the one to the left is slightly closer. You can get buses 86, 163, 854, 857 and 857B there. Not much else to see, so let’s head back in.
We follow the canal right to the end, and finish where we started: at Lentor Loop, by the Countryside Playground! (This is the largest of the four playgrounds that I mentioned.)
Now that we’ve seen the estate, how did you find it?
It seemed like a really idyllic place for kids to grow up, with lots of space to run around, play games and have fun. The downside is the lack of amenities nearby, although the Lentor region is currently being developed, with new commercial units coming up at Lentor Modern, as well as 2 more GLS sites recently released. (Note that bus 825 which runs through the estate will take you to both Lentor MRT and Yio Chu Kang MRT.) Another thing to note is that a big part of the charm of the area at the moment is due to the neighbours (e.g. all parking on the same side of the road) and people move in and out of an estate all the time.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
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TJ's interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one's square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
Can you show more estates with lifts? As so many of us have elderly relatives who will struggle with stairs