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50 years of age -relocate to the country??

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  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344
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    I moved from city to village at 42 and then to very rural at 45, having grown up in a rural location. I'm now 53 and giving serious consideration to returning to city living. Transport, fuel costs and facilities are the main reasons. There is no public transport so you have to be fit to drive and have a reliable vehicle. There's no gas so I'm at the mercy of the fluctuations (generally upwards) in the cost of heating oil, and a visit to the supermarket is a 35 mile round trip, so I use a lot of petrol. And there really is nothing here, our only facilities are a phone box (which didn't work the one time I tried to use it) and a post box. Broadband is under half a meg, you have to have a satellite box to watch TV, the only mobile signal is on Vodafone, I could go on. While it's OK now the downsides to country living are starting to outweigh the benefits, and I think that balance will get worse as I get older. I'd quite like to be able to just walk down the road to the cinema again, rather than having to plan a 100 mile round trip (even more if if I want to see something that's not very mainstream).
  • Better_Days
    Better_Days Posts: 2,742
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    I have lived in both city and rural environments and much prefer the latter. The main downside to rural living for me is lack of accessible public transport, and what there is, is expensive.

    If you do decide to relocate don't forget to research planning in depth. Have a look at the local plan for the LA in your preferred area to see what plots local developers have got their eye on. These may often be small scale developments of 5-10 properties, but could radically alter the 'countryside views' for those nearby (and disruption while building is going on). We very reluctantly discounted a perfect property backing onto a meadow because of this. Plus things like development of recreational areas and proposed sites for camps for travelers and gypsy's.

    The local plan should describe the LA's attitude to infill and large scale building around the towns and villages.

    There is also considerable deprivation in many rural areas, but is often not always immediately apparent.

    Renting first is a good idea if you are not sure if you would like living in a rural area. Read the local papers while you are renting and find out what is causing ho ha in the area.
    It is a good idea to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought.
    James Douglas
  • dietdemon
    dietdemon Posts: 13 Forumite
    Dear all

    thank you for your thoughts up to now it has certainly given me pointers to consider although I am still not put off. Have been researching fairly thoroughly but much better to hear of and learn from others experiences.

    The areas we are considering moving to have fairly good transport links. Tend to be decent sized villages with walks, caravan site, pub, local shop and are within 30 - 40 minute driving distance of a town.

    Would happily downsize to 2 bed now children have left, minimal housework would be good.

    Thanks for all replies any more suggestions welcome.
  • phoebe1989seb
    phoebe1989seb Posts: 4,452
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    We moved from a city to somewhere more rural in our early forties when our only son had just gone to uni. We were fortunate enough to be mortgage-free and with no constraints on which part of the country we chose.....although with hindsight we should have considered our ageing parents who have since developed health issues :(

    We rather foolishly chose a part of the country we didn't know or research fully and although we bought a beautiful house in a semi-rural area, we soon discovered the area was not for us and last year we moved again.......losing a fair bit of money in the process.

    Our new (very old) house is in a much more rural area, but a much nicer part of the country with a fantastic pub, a butcher, farm shop and an award-winning village store. Even though I don't drive I don't feel cut off.....there is a regular bus service into our nearest market town which is only a couple of miles away anyway. DH has a 45 minute commute into another small town which he thoroughly enjoys - especially as he previously was commuting into central London which he hated!

    We also have no gas, but our village store has a bulk buying scheme for oil which gets a discounted rate. We have fantastic countryside on our doorstep, have a huge garden and have just bought a puppy :D

    The downside for me is that it is a(nother) renovation project ;) and will most likely take us a further five years to complete.....but when completed we should have the perfect home in a very nice part of the country......and still be mortgage-free :D

    My advice would be to research very very thoroughly before committing to a purchase or indeed any decision. The advice to rent first is good - although it wouldn't have worked for us for a variety of reasons - and remember 'location location location' is the key to getting it right!

    Good luck :D
    Mortgage-free for fourteen years!

    Over £40,000 mis-sold PPI reclaimed
  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,551
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    dietdemon wrote: »
    Would happily downsize to 2 bed now children have left, minimal housework would be good.

    They might have gone for the moment but think about where you're going to put them when they come back to visit with a partner and a couple of children.

    Also, if you're likely to want to do hobbies at home or run a small business, a spare room so that everything can be kept separate from your living area is very useful.
  • hethmar
    hethmar Posts: 10,678
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    edited 15 April 2012 at 12:59PM
    At 50 you are still kids! Thats no problem, but as others have mentioned, choose carefully. You need a big village/small town with plenty of activities and decent transport. A small village, as pointed out, may be very insular. I remember when we first moved to the country from London, many many years ago - to a small hamlet/village. Nearly everyone in that village were related and it was a difficult matter to settle in when you were an outsider.

    I worked in a small town 6 miles away and couldnt drive. The bus stop was over a mile from our cottage. There was one bus out and one bus back every day and if you missed that, well, you hitched or walked. Not a lot of fun when it was winter and you walk home in the pitch dark (no street lights!) up to your knees in snow.

    Also think about doctors/hospitals/dentists and so on. You want them to be reasonably close at hand.

    Go for a bigger community and throw yourself into village life as soon as you get there. Join everything you can and spend money locally! One thing villagers hate is when outsiders use it as a dormitory and dont use local facilities.

    The large village/small town we have now lived in for 25 years is lovely. We even have a train station. A city is only 9 miles away so we can get to things like theatres and cinemas, museums and so on. The bonus for us was that after we moved here I found my ancestors had lived here - so I was returning to an area they left over 150 years ago to go to work in London :) This has been additionally handy as I can talk quite knowledgeably about the area and my ancestors names crop up quite a bit locally. So sorted :) Im accepted as local.
  • phoebe1989seb
    phoebe1989seb Posts: 4,452
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    Mojisola wrote: »
    They might have gone for the moment but think about where you're going to put them when they come back to visit with a partner and a couple of children.

    Also, if you're likely to want to do hobbies at home or run a small business, a spare room so that everything can be kept separate from your living area is very useful.

    Another good point :)

    Although we *downsized* when our son went to uni, it was from a very large 6 bed house to a still reasonably sized 5 bed with only two of the 'bedrooms' upstairs enabling us to utilise the downstairs 'bedrooms' as reception (or 'hobby') rooms ;) Indeed, the house we moved to most recently is much larger than the *downsize* house, although still smaller than our family home, meaning that if our DS and his girlfriend ever have children (not on the agenda at the mo) we'd have plenty of space to accommodate them and their stuff :D
    Mortgage-free for fourteen years!

    Over £40,000 mis-sold PPI reclaimed
  • scaredlady
    scaredlady Posts: 132
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    Hi we are in our middle/late 50's. Husband has lived in the same village all his life. I married him and moved to village. At the time was a good idea. Now not such a good idea ,and at some stage we will be moving out. Had a regular bus service ,now we have none. no shops in the village. we now do our food shopping online so do not have to travel to the shops. We have no mains gas,so have liquid gas. During the bad weather 2 years ago delivery company got soo far behind we were totally out of gas for 3 days-so no heating/hot water,and we were snow bound...roads are not gritted if they are not a bus route. A few other people in the village are now moving out as they do not want to be trapped here when too old/infirm to drive.
  • terrierlady
    terrierlady Posts: 1,742 Forumite
    not all bad news however rural or remote? we are 5 mins from motorway, local village is 5 mins as is local bus service the outlook is stunning and traffic slow, people friendly but not intrusive so go for it make sure you get right area and watch house prices and as said before oil heating is expensive, check for mains drainage plus transport costs more ,but life is slower and gives you time to smell the roses.
    my bark is worse than my bite!!!!!!!!
  • ognum
    ognum Posts: 4,835
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    I have lived in a village now live close to the centre of a city and would never, never move back to a village.

    I never shop in a supermarket, I have specialist shops on my doorstep. I can walk/bike to the cinema, concerts or theatre.

    I love the Sunday papers!

    I do more exercise in town than I ever did in the country just on everyday life.

    We have great neighbours, we hardly use any petrol. Life is good.
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