4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[yvonne]

Having moved from the outskirts of a small town to the deepest countryside, I am now wondering whether it was a mistake. We've been here almost 4 years and whilst the village itself, views over open fields and lack of trafic jams etc are wonderful, I do miss being able to pop out to a cinema/sports centre/nice shops/arts venue as the nearest "nice" town is over an hour away by car.

 

Feel really mean as it was me who persuaded my other half to move to the middle of nowhere.

 

We moved from the Thames Valley to Somerset and am I'm also finding it very difficult to get an interesting job without a long drive to Bristol every day which would defeat the object of the move (and mean leaving my dog alone all day).

 

Would love to know if anyone else has had a similar experience as I'm worried I'll move back to a town and miss the country !

 

Indecisive, moi ??

[Happy-Mama]

ooh that's a difficult one. i guess it depends on the type of person you are and what you want from where you live. My friend loves living in London and I prefer the quiet of a country village (though eventually I want to move much further into the country side and have land etc).

 

Sorry not much help. I guess you need to think about what you want from life and where you live then decide which location provides that the best.

[Olly]

I've always imagined I'd like to live in the country, and I have a sort of fantasy about retiring there. I said this to a friend recently however and she said 'oh no, you're definitely a town person' which surprised me, but made me reconsider. I don't eat out, order takeaways, go to the theatre or cinema very often ... but I do like to know they're there if I want them, and having Waitrose 5 minutes walk away is handy! I am tied to London really by my job.

 

I think having a biggish garden, and keeping chickens, bees, growing my own veg and so on is my compromise - I've never lived in the country, and I'm not sure the beautiful views, peace and quiet etc would actually compensate for the isolation.

 

Have you got into village life and made friends, or has that been hard to do?

[Guest]

For me

Plus of countryside

Quiet nice walks fresh air wildlife country views farm fields butterflies peacefulness relaxing/great pub

Good schools in this particular area

 

disadvantages

 

Nosey neighbours(twitchy curtains)

Essential car

well stocked for milk and bread(no village shop here)

running children to friends in other areas(not all parents willing to share )

Commuter belt area

Towneys coming here and wanting it squeaky clean & no animal noises cockerels etc

snowed in

Boredom

Clicky groups ie church group or look down on if you dont attend

isolation with very young children(something that happened to me leaving my established friends mother and toddler groups etc..to nothing)

I was suprised how unfriendly our village was and still is

Smaller village schools sometimes dont have facilities of bigger shcools especially for sport

Boredom for children despite them playing Rugby/Cricket /horse riding they cant just pop to a friends.

 

But I am glad we stayed in reaching distance of London, despite my general dislike its nice to be in reach of London sometimes & cambridge

 

 

Depends what you really want, my ideal is to live on a hillside with no neighbours at all

 

indie

[WarrensWorld]

Oh dear, we love our village of 14 houses. I think you have to throw yourself in at the deep-end. Eileen's far better at doing this than I am, but I know everyone in our village by name. Perhaps it's just Ireland, if you need a hand you just ask and help is on it's way. A couple of examples, Eilleen stalled her car at the bottom of the local hill, it was snowing and the wheels wouldn't grip. Eileen phoned Bernie (Bernadette) in two minutes Gary Bernies son came down with a tractor and towed the car up the hill. I needed a van to carry my welding gear to an urgent job, the Land Rover was in for it's NCT/MOT. I asked Michael our local garage man if I could hire one of his vans. He said I'll come down, he came down with an Hiace van, just threw me the keys. Alan his son pulled up and took Michael away. I did the job and returned the van, got my wallet out to pay, he said no and took me to the test centre to pick up the Landy......

There's three villages in a triangle, the people of the three, built their own church, school and community centre. We only have a shop, they took away our post office/Án poste. The children are well behaved, polite, helpful and extremely intelligent.

The fly in the ointment is Billy, he dug me out in the local and said what are you doing over here!. His two daughters married English men, one lives in Saffron Walden, the other lives in Luton. His son is at Brunel University..............

So Do Not Move to Mayo.......

[yvonne]

Thank-you all !

This is a great place to hear sensible views !

We also have no local shop (it closed the year after we moved in) and no bus service and whilst it is a friendly village, there are certainley a few cliques (as well as "gerrof my land" types).

I also would not have classed myself a townie, but Waitrose in walking distance was somehow a reassuring thing !!

I definately feel I've gone into semi-retirement too early. Will have to think seriously about a move up towards Bristol and Bath, but hopefully still with a decent sized garden - lots to ponder !!

[AJuff]

I can really feel for you in your situation. Before the kids we lived in the country. One elderly neighbour, open fields, peaceful and very quiet. 5 miles to the nearest town or shop. My job was in the city which took 1hr. OH 25mins to work. Apart from the petrol costs we loved where we lived until baby number 1 arrived. It was difficult to walk out with the pram, I missed other people and when I went back to work I had to get up even earlier than before to get into the city.

 

We decided to compromise and move to a village. What a novelty to be able to walk to a shop to buy milk! With the arrival of baby number two we had become very reliant on living somewhere with amenities so when we relocated we moved into a town.

 

Although I adore the country I really appreciate the independence my children have living in town. They can take themselves off to the cinema, flute lessons, choir, to friends etc.

 

It has taken seven years of living in town to finally accept we need town and to find my own piece of the country here in town. Chickens have helped and I have a super vegetable garden, greenhouse and country living magazine delivered every month. Country fabrics and bits adorn my house. Just like the magazine says on the side 'When your heart is in the country' and I've found that bit of country here in town.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide. x

[AJuff]

I forgot to add that going on holiday to a rural cottage once a year really helps too. We've just got back from a week in a rural cottage in Angus, Scotland.

[majorbloodnock]

For me, it's a personal space thing. Apparently, each of us has a theoretical circle around us that defines what we believe to be our personal space, and that if someone enters that circle without invitation it makes us feel uncomfortable. Moreover, it seems those raised in the country work on a radius of about 12 feet, whilst those from the town are content with a personal space radius of half that.

 

I did live in London for a while some years ago, but hated it simply because too many people were always getting too close. I'm far happier with wilderness simply for the solitude. I'll admit that having fewer people in a village (and so making it possible for everyone to know everyone else) can require a little skill for one to keep one's privacy, but the flip side is that, if you need some help, your neighbours know you well enough to care, and therefore offer that assistance; I never felt more anonymous than when I was in London, and only learnt the names of two neighbours in the four years I was there, whilst I'd been invited round for a cuppa by all my neighbours within the week I moved into my current (small village) house.

 

As for convenience, I think it depends on what you want to have to hand. If you live and breathe the theatre, city life's the only real choice. However, if you want to avoid supermarkets and get fresh farm produce, just try finding a farm shop in any city. If you want a garden (or at least a lawn bigger than the sun lounger you'd like to put on it), you'll get more for your money the further you move from the metropolis.

 

No right answers, of course; just varying compromises everywhere. Suffice to say my personal heaven involves a combination of fields, forests and bridleways, whilst I've discovered the road to Hell and found it ends up at some tower blocks in Barking.

[WarrensWorld]

No right answers, of course; just varying compromises everywhere. Suffice to say my personal heaven involves a combination of fields, forests and bridleways, whilst I've discovered the road to Hell and found it ends up at some tower blocks in Barking.

Our road to Hell ended in Bexley.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've always been a city dweller although I don't really use many of the city's facilities. Whenever we go on holiday, usually somewhere very remote, I really enjoy it but it does remind me why I actually enjoy the convenience of a city.

 

I asked my teenagers if they would prefer living where their cousins do (fairly remote, up near Kyle of Lochalsh) or the city and despite the fact that neither of them "uses" the city much they both unequivocally said city.

 

(Having said all this, our holiday cottage was less than 5 minutes from the local shop this year - closer then my own local shop at home .)

[Space Chick]

No right answers, of course; just varying compromises everywhere. Suffice to say my personal heaven involves a combination of fields, forests and bridleways, whilst I've discovered the road to Hell and found it ends up at some tower blocks in Barking.

Our road to Hell ended in Bexley.

 

I did my stint of "the London thing" and lived in Bexleyheath. It was fine for a few years, but I yearned to return to a quieter way of life. I now live in the small town I grew up in. Its not the country by any stretch of the imagination but it is quieter, and as I back onto woodland, when I go out the garden I can pretend I live in the country

[BeckyBoo]

It's my dream to live somewhere rural with land and no neighbours. I have to say I'm a bit of a loner, I can count my friends on the fingers of one hand and (apart from the school run) sometimes I don't see them from one week to the next. I love being alone, solitude and peace and quiet are my idea of heaven. BUT. My children LOVE being able to go outside the front door and be surrounded by their friends in our cul-de-sac, school is walking distance and if they have parties to go to, or I run out of something the nearest big town is only 7 miles away and there's a village post office for emergencies at the top of my road. I think rural life, for me, will be for when the children are grown and have their own life, then I can be the strange woman at the end of the lonely lane with cats and dogs and chickens!

 

BeckyBoo

[Redwing]

I was relocated by my work late last year to an office in Luton from close to the city centre in Bristol

 

We used to live opposite a late night garage and three doors away from a takeaway so popping out for a snack/bread/milk was dead easy, buses in to town came every 7 minutes and there was always a museum or play to go and see

 

but for all the fun and entertainment in Bristol I would not move back there for anything, it just feels right to be in the countryside, yes it feels like retirement has come early when we go to gardening club or somesuch activity but we recently had two weeks off work and enjoyed spending them at home

 

Indie999 sums it up quite well

 

Only you can decide what is right for you but do spend some time getting involved in local clubs and activities, there is always more going on in a village than you realise and we have met so many nice people like this

 

What cemented our move to the country as a good one was our local neighbourhood watch meeting where they spent ten minutes with the local police lady talking about 'the egg throwing incident' which was the worst 'crime' in the last 6 months

 

If you are really that unhappy Bristol and Bath have some great outlying areas which blend town and country nicely but obviously that will cost a lot more than Somerset

 

I grew up in Bath and can say that the job market there has never been that good, lots of jobs are seasonal so jobs that arent are in demand, we had to move to Bristol to find decent jobs

 

Maybe a move further up the M5 but still in Somerset could work? so many Bristol jobs are in Filton/Aztec West, Avonmouth or Cribbs Causeway areas anyway

 

If you stay where you are look towards Taunton, Yeovil and Bridgwater for jobs, sometimes distance isnt everything, I used to spend nearly an hour getting in to Bristol every day in the rush hour but can now get to my job in Luton 40 miles away in the same time

 

Good luck with your decision making

[Seagazer]

No right answers, of course; just varying compromises everywhere. Suffice to say my personal heaven involves a combination of fields, forests and bridleways, whilst I've discovered the road to Hell and found it ends up at some tower blocks in Barking.

Our road to Hell ended in Bexley.

 

I did my stint of "the London thing" and lived in Bexleyheath. It was fine for a few years, but I yearned to return to a quieter way of life. I now live in the small town I grew up in. Its not the country by any stretch of the imagination but it is quieter, and as I back onto woodland, when I go out the garden I can pretend I live in the country

 

We live in Sidcup (and I have since a child on and off) and I've had enough. Its not the place it used to be and London has spread out its evil wings (sorry all Londoners).

 

I would love to live in the countryside/coast and have more space around me although I don't want to be remote. I'm fed up with feeling hemmed in by all the other houses. We have trees in the road and parks and the meadows near us but I just feel a bit claustrophobic at times.

 

When I visit my sister and brother's families I realise how much running around they have to do picking up and dropping off their kids at the surrounding villages etc. Their school takes in children from a large catchment area. I think I would find it quite hard having to do all the running around. Here the kids just walk or catch the bus to see their friends.

 

Also the nearest diy shop is about a twenty minute drive for them all the time but I suppose you have to weigh up what you want. I think realistically we will not move until YS is off our hands and then we can go where we want. Unless we have to move for OH's job of course.

[Old Speckled Hen]

I think rural life, for me, will be for when the children are grown and have their own life, then I can be the strange woman at the end of the lonely lane with cats and dogs and chickens!

 

BeckyBoo

 

That's me and hubby now that the kids are grown

BUT I couldn't have done it before. While my daughter was at school it was so convenient having all our amenities and her friends so close to home.

[chickenanne]

oooh... well, here's some:

 

Town

More privacy (in that any neighbours won't know nor care who is coming and going)

Convenience

MUCH better for older kids: far more facilities, they get to choose who their freinds with (rather than having to get along with people their age who happen to live locally)

Better job opportunities

Often - cheaper cost of living (distances travelled, mains gas, etc)

Residential areas are residential: no farm machiery late at night etc (IMO people can be a little-erm-naive about how quiet rural areas are - agricultural areas should not be silent year-round!)

Public transport.

Easier to get a good social life with people you want to spend time with, rather than whoever happens to live locally!

Better police presence (hard to believe, I know, but response times etc are better in built up areas!)

Choice of schools for kids

More cosmopolitan

 

Country

Pretty, clean, good views.

Sense of space

..This sounds really "hippy" but you are more in touch with the seasons, weather, and that natural rhythm. I know, me, making hippy-60's-flower-child comments.

Less time getting the dry cleaning and more time getting your clothes muddy.

You're not anonymous

More likely to have a bigger garden,

No neighbours/no near neighbours

Activities like kayaking/fishing/walking etc are on doorstep

Lower crime rate (generally)

More likely to live near more like-minded people

Local schools in rural areas generally better

Opportunity to have healthier lifestyle

 

Dunno. I think kids and jobs are the biggies, but I also think people can see rural life as something aspirational and idyllic, when it isn't - it's life with ups and downs.