From my experience with two very different characters, Lakeview Manor had the highest rate of random attacks, and the most variety of enemies. What makes you think the other two are going to be defence-orientated manors? I play on the Xbox 360, so no mucking around changing the game, that is how it came at least for me.

I picked Lakeview just because of the view, which is great.

I picked the armory and all my mannequins are loaded now, all seven of them. For role-playing being a Nord warrior the armory seemed the best choice.

Oh. Maybe it's just me but I read somewhere that Lakeview is supposed to be a fairly neutral area, while the other two have the highest chance to be attacked. If it's not the case I have to reconsider my plans.

If your character is an established one who has done a lot of the questlines, especially the main questline, you could be fighting a lot of dragons at Lakeview Manor, among a heap of other things. Both my characters are high level characters, one had done everything, one had only completed the civil war and had no self spawning dragons. Lakeview was perfect for the one who never got dragons, although she still had vampires, bandits, wolves a mad necromancer, mad animals and a few giants as well as the usual skeevers in the basemant. The first character spent one playthough fighting a legendary dragon and just about everything else all at the same time almost every visit, before I gave up. It was too hard for me. A low level character might get a better spread of attacks between the houses, but still the idyllic paradise might not be so peaceful.

I have suffered numerous attacks at Lakeview despite having more defenders, only one at Heljarchen and none at all at Windstad.

Giants too? That's odd. I find it hard picturing them traveling from the Tundra all the way down to Lakeview, I thought enemy spawns were at least location-related. At any rate, sounds like Heljarchen Hall is going to be my new family home with all the bells and whistles, I've recently started a new character working as a miner in Dawnstar and I plan to settle down in Heljarchen, although I have yet to find the money and an appropriate wife. I'll see how it goes.

Aussie has had three giant attacks at Lakeview Manor this playthrough, although one was unmade due to a house decorating glitch, that required a return to an earlier save. This playthrough would appear to be her high incident one, because the first attempt she got hardly anything anywhere. This time she has had attacks at all three houses. You will not be disappointed with Heljarchen Hall, but save before you hire your steward, and keep the save just in case.

I'm starting to believe giants attack are purely scripted and irrelevant of location or real actual relationship with the giants
(for example I always team up with gaints against dragons, with my old high level character, and they never attacked me, except scripted events)

Be careful at Lakeview, a giant likes to hang around beside the house and a psychotic sorcerer lives in the backyard.

Way I see it, the giant is a good guard as long as you don't piss him off yourself.

Hmmm... My Lakeview house was pretty quiet, the sorcerer down the hill stays down the hill, the giant hadn't been a nuisance... Then I came back from a selling trip (down the road to Riverwood) to find the giant attacking my cow. I gave the giant a good 'Bad Giant!' whack, harvested the remains, then went inside to get Lydia to buy a new chicken. Seems ours got clubbed, or trampled... Whatever, it got dedded.

A Housecarl, a Steward and a Spouse - No one noticed a giant molesting our cow?

On another note: Are all of the Hearthfire display cases leftover stock from Oblivion? None of mine have an 'activate' tag, just 'open' or 'close'.

Yes all the new display cases work the same as the Oblivion ones, you put whatever you want in them, provided some game designer remembered to give it the right coding to actually stay put.

Jeez, I have quite a dilemma. It's all very complicated. Being that I am a female Volkihar Vampire Lord ruling at that dark castle, Level 58, I don't see any of these three home locations in any design configuration being suitable for a vampire family. Sure, I could put some coffins in the cellar for sleeping with my newly turned hubby (I haven't met him yet) but what about the adopted kids? Should I bless them with the Volkihar blood? Will Hearthfire allow me to do that? Oh hell. This ain't gonna work out.

I might have to go see about a vampirism cure but don't want to yet. I'm having way too much vampy fun at the moment. But.... I could take the cure and do the family thing, and later go see about being blessed again by the lovely Serana. Yet, still ...

I am thinking that playing Hearthfire really needs a fresh start with a new character..... even before going to chat with Jarl Balgruf about a dragon sighting.

Another question not worth its own thread: are the chests outside the house safe for storage?

i've only built lakeview so far, went with the bedroom/storage room/kitchen config, as nice as the kitchen is i now wish i'd gone for the armoury. and btw, since ive been at lakeview, ive been randomly attacked by bandits, wolves, a rather angry bear and a dragon on two seperate occaisions and thats since thurday night. i did away with the mage down the hill before i started building, which is just as well seeing how much my kids like going down to the lake!

I'd been away from Lakeview long enough for the necromancer and the apiary to respawn, but the chest did not. I'd say, safe!

Thanks, I'm going to drop in there all the building materials I collected so far. I'll store a save file just in case anything goes missing.

I stored not only building materials in them, but future supplies while waiting to furnish the whole place, nothing ever vanished and some were in there for a long time.

My MC is at Lakeview. Breton sword and spell sort. Would have preferred to go with the kitchen but just can't have the wife standing there all day staring into space, so he was forced to go with the armory. But its okay.

For the simple reason that I like fishies, I started doing up Winstad. I like the exterior porches, but also the kitchen... I don't like the storage room, not as is anyway, nor do I like the library (Actually, pretty much all of the towers are a disappointment. The rooftop patio thingy is a waste as is, and is too small to add much of anything.). So I am pretty much nuking the upstairs double-bed room and have put in some of the noble type bookcases (the ones that take as many books as you give them) as well as a small square table and two chairs. Think that I'll do much the same with the storage room, except put in open shelf units around the walls, a long war-type table (need the ID for that one...) and some chests under it. Might put a few low shelf or storage units with display cases on them. And possibly a wall of weapon racks as well, maybe some wall plaques on same wall...

So, for me it is Winstad with bedroom, kitchen, highly modified storage room and highly modified upper-floor main hall. And for me, HF is as much about learning more about the CK, as well as how to re-build rooms in situ. Maybe I might even get around to playing a story-line or two.