A question for rural living OS members

togo

dandy-candy wrote: »

Part of my on going plan to be more frugal and old style is to eventually move to the countryside and have a smallholding. It isn't just to have the space to grow my own veg and keep livestock, but to be in a like minded community. I don't want to be anywhere to remote, but on the edge of village seems a perfect idea.
When we do countryside drives we see lots of pretty "Miss Marple" type villages and I would love to live in them. I imagine everyone being quaint and old fashioned, and having village fete's, joining the W.I. etc etc. Is that what village life is really like or did that die out in the 1950's? Have I been watching to many period dramas?


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Hi dandy-candy, I live in a north North Yorkshire Moors village and love it. We moved here 37 years ago to bring up our children in the country. They have all moved south for work now and I am widowed. I wouldn't move. They love coming back. I and the people here have to "make work" I am a ghost writer for oaps! If you can be imaginative you will enjoy it, everyone is an individual and there is no "class" other than "gets on with others" or "solitary" just smile when you get there, ask for help of anyone willing to give it, and, in turn they will ask you back when they need it. Lots of mud and in winter snow. Give away any spare fruit or veg you have and in turn you will find the odd cauli or honey on your doorstep - or bread for your geese -or offers to look after pets/chickens/geese while you are away if you do the same for them. It is a richer life than towns. I have village clothes and away from the village clothes and live in welly boots here! I help others and others help me which you wouldn't get to such a degree anywhere else. Petrol costs are a huge part of my income and also house maintenance so bring a DIY book with you and don't forget to instruct your wife about practical issues like using the saw for firewood as the power can go off frequently as well as the water supply. You won't need a TV there is too much going on, I and several friends here don't have one but then there is too much to do in the evenings, animals to tuck down, amateur dramatics, films once a month, table tennis clubs to join, teams to join, annual shows and summer games to organise as well as THE NIGHT SKY (which is stunning and my best interest although the monthly lectures are 25 miles away) book club, ladies get togethers in the pub/restaurant for chat gents same, and Royal British Legion dos or just call in for a glass of wine or cup of tea with friends of an evening- TV programs can always be caught up with on the i player and the New Scientist mag is on line to read, as are newspapers - I hardly ever find time for the gym/swim!!!. GOOD LUCK - your life is what you make it.:)

bearcub

I have to say that we've not suffered at all with gossip, or the 'us and them' situation, but nearly everyone here are what's generally known as 'overners'. Occasionally, there's a letter in the local paper about people coming onto the island and taking all the jobs. In truth, if it wasn't for those coming over, a lot of businesses wouldn't get enough staff, and voluntary organisations certainly wouldn't be able to cope. Having said that, though, a lot of people moving over here are retired (as we are), but it's people like us who form the voluntary groups. There are families with young children who move here, but the wage earners generally work on the mainland.

Our neighbours are just lovely. OH and I went on holiday last year (our first holiday in 10 years), and our DD2 came to look after our animals. Our next door neighbours told her to call to them if she had any problems and, since my Mum (in her 80s) moved here, a couple of the neighbours have stopped to give her a lift to or from the shops.

I think the 'prejudice' or 'us and them' varies greatly from area to area in the UK. Some areas are just 'posh' areas - or think they are!

vl2588

This thread is great! I also have a dream to own a smallholding, mostly to satisfy my desire to have pigs, but I also grew up with horses and love chickens and pretty much all animals really...so the sky's the limit. I also have a friend and her husband who want to go in with me like a co-operative, and my mum and her mum might also join.

I worry a little about the loneliness and especially not being accepted by locals, but I would pay pretty much any price to realise my dream, and won't let it put me off. I am also very keen to join in and volunteer etc. so am hoping it won't be that hard to make friends/aquaintances.

Some good knowledge being shared, thanks all

N.B. I grew up in a village so used to the 'insular' nature/gossip and drug culture, but other than that it was a fairly urban village (I call it sub-rural). I now live on a farm (just renting alas) and I blimmin love it, even if the car is always gritty and muddy!

Primrose

Beware of being beguiled by images of country cottages with roses round the door. Living in the countryside can be bleak in winter, lonely if there are not a lot of community activities going on, impossible if there arn't enough shops, post office and GP's surgery to keep live and limb together and totally isolating if you don't have independent transport. If you really want something slightly rural, pick the outskirts of a small town or very large village where all the facilities are in reasonable reach.
It can be blissful, but look seriously at all the downsides first and ask yourself if you'll be able to live with them on a bad day.

SUESMITH_2

this thread has made me smile and chuckle.

oh is a country boy born and bred. i come from a very big city and when we first got together i had a very romantic view of the country just like the op - i was soon put right lol.

we lived with his mum and dad for a bit and I was amazed by what went on, the affairs and comings and goings. it happens in the city of course but because everyone knows everyone else its more visible. no lie ins cos the farmer is working in the fields, the countryside looks like it does cos its been worked for 1000s of years. if the farmer wasn't making noise the RAF were practising their low flying, and their take off and landings. i used to sit in the back garden and wave to the pilots they were so low.

then the pig farms started, mmm fragrant especially when mixed with the aroma of the slurry spreading.

the shop has now gone because they have so many outsiders who want to live in a village but don't want to use the local facilities, one of the pubs has gone and no more post office but the school has had to expand because of all the people who want their children to grow up in the country, wait until they get get to teenage years and all spare time is spent ferrying them to their friends in the next village 3 miles away

I gave wry smile when someone said join everything and do things - the first things incomers do is exactly that and quite often get peoples backs up, a favourite thing is to join the parish council and then try and do stupid things like stop tractors going through the village as it slows them up in the 4x4s. oh, and buy hunter wellies, barbour coats and caps.

if you don't drive be prepared for a long wait for a bus, they have one in the morning and one on a night.

don't try downloading films as the internet is so slow it will constantly buffer but on the plus side they do now have mains gas but they had to pay to have it brought in.

we would have loved to move back, but property prices are out of our reach because of the incomers - so if the locals are not as welcoming as you would like maybe its because their children wont be able to live where their familes have lived for generations

Hermia

Itismehonest wrote: »

Have you got a lot of trees around, Hermia. There's a similar problem in the area I live (a National Park) & many people have found it's down to leaf mould.

That's interesting. I'll look into that.

Itismehonest wrote: »

It can be fun when you're young but you may find it better to move back closer to civilisation before you get too old or too ill to keep up with all the work it entails.

That is a very good point. I think you do need to keep an eye on your situation and think of the future. In my job I see a lot of people who didn't do this and are now suffering because of it. I see a lot of old or chronically ill people who live in the middle of nowhere or at the top of steep hills and now cannot get out. Yet, these are people who would be able to walk to the shops if they lived in a more urban area and just had to shuffle along a pavement. I know widows who never learned to drive and were stuck when their husbands died. The country towns where I am all have new estates built on their outskirts and I have noticed a lot of the savvy oldies move to them when they start to notice that their mobility is getting worse.

Primrose

My parents retired to their "dream place" in the countryside. When my father was too elderly to drive (and my mother had never learned) they had no bus access to nearest shops, & doctor 7 miles away. I spent my week-ends doing a 2 hour commute to shop for them & take them to doctor & hospital appointments because they refused to move to civilisation. And they refused to move because "we're managing fine how we are". If I'd abandoned them they would have starved after the first week so I'd recommended that for anybody over the age of 60, the dream of a retreat in the countryside should remain simply that - a dream and not a reality.

ash28

Primrose wrote: »

My parents retired to their "dream place" in the countryside. When my father was too elderly to drive (and my mother had never learned) they had no bus access to nearest shops, & doctor 7 miles away. I spent my week-ends doing a 2 hour commute to shop for them & take them to doctor & hospital appointments because they refused to move to civilisation. And they refused to move because "we're managing fine how we are". If I'd abandoned them they would have starved after the first week so I'd recommended that for anybody over the age of 60, the dream of a retreat in the countryside should remain simply that - a dream and not a reality.

I don't know where your parents live, but where we are with no real public transport as such and the nearest town 10 miles away - though we do have a medical practice with a dispensary.

We have a system called Call Connect, it's run by the council and you just ring and book your place - the buses have a designated route to the nearest town (you can travel inter village if you want) or nearest proper access to trains and buses - they run about 4 times a day. If you have mobility issues then you are picked up and taken back to your door - if it's accessible. And you can use a bus pass on it. You have to register to use it. And you can't just turn up and get on - you have to book it. Apparently anyone can use it.

There is a voluntary system called Dial a Ride (volunteer CRB checked drivers) - you ring and someone will come and take you to your doctor's/hospital/optician/dentist appointment and the driver will wait for you and take you home afterwards.

The system isn't free - the user pays a mileage rate to cover the driver's costs. Obviously it is very flexible and designed to help the elderly who have no direct access to public transport.

[Deleted User]

All I can say, dandy-candy, is DON'T DO IT:eek:

We've lived in a very small village for 42 years (our first home together). We bought a pair of derelict small semi-detached farm cottages and 'did them up' bit by bit and turned them into a detached house. At the time we moved here there was a church, small Post Office (which had a lone petrol dipensing pump outside) and a thriving pub but not much else. At the start we were treated as something of a novelty, being far younger than the local inhabitants and having jobs which took us to the nearest town. We liked it here though. The old locals took us under their wings a bit. Sadly most of them have now died.

Bit by bit new houses were built until our lovely country view was gone and the main road through (hardly more than single-track in places) is like a racetrack with all the inhabitants of the newer houses all taking off for work at the same time and ditto returning. The Post Office (and petrol pump!) closed years ago. The nearest tiny part-time Post Office/shop is 4 miles away and with just one bus on a market day to our nearest town (7 miles away)there is absolutely no public transport. Anyone needing a big supermarket or a range of national chain shops has to go to our nearest larger town which is 15 miles away. So a car is a must, with all its inherent costs. Even the village pub seems to be struggling, it has had a change of landlords about 5 times in the past 7 years. Sometimes, if there are no customers the current landlord just shuts up shop for the evening which is very unfair on anyone who arrives later after making a special journey. Most of the dwellers in this village are commuters and during the day it is like a 'ghost-town'. No one seems to know anyone anymore, there is no village 'hub' or amenities. They don't seem interested in the pub (the only meeting place really) as it is not very cheerful or welcoming and is invariably empty. Most inhabitants are young familes who spend most of their time doing things away from the village. Children are 'bussed' (from 4 years old which seems so cruel to me) at least 4 miles to and from school daily, teenagers about 10 miles.

The noise is appalling, constant tractors and trailers rumbling through on this uneven and narrow road throwing mud up everywhere. I know it is a rural area but the growth of the farms and mechanisation have changed the area out of all proportion. Then there's the foul stench of pig slurry which one of the large farms has spread on its fields as fertiliser. In the summer it is unbearable to sit outside or even have the windows open. Oh, I nearly forgot the mechanical 'bird scarers' going off from dawn to dusk for a lot of the year.

Mobile phone reception is terrible here and being so far from the telephone exchange our broadband speech is mind-numbingly slow. There is no mains gas so we have to rely on oil which is expensive and not particularly convenient. Lots of people have wood burners and often the air is choked with acrid smoke when everyone gets in from work and lights their fires!

So, you might be asking if you've bothered to read this far, why have we stayed? And I honestly don't know! My OH is worried about moving to a nearby town for all sorts of reasons, and the value of the house is not enough to be able to afford much in town at our age (too old for a mortgage). We had subsidence a few years ago, plus flooding more recently, so a valuation for selling would be low, even if we could sell. Most of the properties put up for sale in this village remain unsold after several price-drops and often over 2 years on the market. A friend who lives opposite us has a lovely home for sale at a very reasonable price and in almost 3 years he has only had one potential buyer viewing it! Like many potential sellers he has moved anyway and has rented out his property here. The village now has many temporary inhabitants renting properties until they buy or find something more permanent. It is perhaps significant that the people who rent here temporarily never go on to buy here but usually buy a home somewhere else.

Sorry about the doom and gloom but country life is not all friendly WIs, village fetes, perpetually sunny days ,picture-postcard cottages with roses round the door.

katieowl_2

I could say all the same things about where we live Carbootcrazy, but I don't see any of it quite the same way as you TBH.

Where we lived in London was like a ghost town during the day, I used to take the dog out and not see a soul. Wherever people are out all day paying the mortgage it's like that.

My nearest town now is three miles away, it has all the basics for day to day needs, but not a dentist that's 38 miles away, and A&E is an hour away. 'Big' shops are an hour away. I keep a running list for the next trip. Our village has no shops or pubs. Yes we are running two cars, which we probably can't afford, but we both need our own transport for our various activities. I get a lot of stuff online, but again, I'd taken to doing that in London as all the little shops had gone over the years.

I do think through my shopping trips to save petrol, and I do keep a well stocked pantry. A few pints of longlife milk save emergency runs for a pint of milk, and we have a breadmaker. We are oil (yes it's expensive) bottled gas and wood (how can you not like woodsmoke? ) I love my woodburner and open fire. Yes the power goes off occassionally (like in yesterday's wind) but I've got lanterns, and an oil lamp. Yes Broadband can be slow. Yes the mobile coverage is patchy. But seriously...what's not to like?

I actively look forward to the days when I don't have to go anywhere, and I can potter around with my craft stuff, and dabble in the kitchen and garden. I love the wild birds out of the windows, and watching them on the feeders. I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing the birds of prey locally. The farmers need to earn a living, seeing them 'tractoring' back and forth until late in the summer evenings reminds us how hard they work, and yes they do have to spread muck from time to time, but as I say to DS it's what makes the grass green. So I don't hang my washing out some days...

I go out occassionally with the ladies from the village (we have our xmas do in a week or so) we have a great time, I've made new good friends here since we moved. I think it depends on your mind-set and how self sufficient you are as people. I know it's not for everyone, but it is seriously the best move I made to come here. And I love Wales with all my heart!

Kate