Too rural?

wwpaddler

Don't be worried about it. Rural life can be just as convenient as urban life; you just have to be prepared and organised and accept that sometimes things don't work but you can manage without them.

If there's no footpaths look at maps and work out ways to get to your destination following field boundaries.

Put winter tyres or all season/weather tyres on the car - you'll never get stuck.

Have an open fire / wood burner/ stove so that if the electric goes off you've got a source of heating. Have a gas hob or get a camping stove so you can cook and know where you keep torches and candles. I'm only 10 miles outside Edinburgh but we've had 3 day powercuts.

Know your local shops - they will still be getting deliveries / going to the cash and carry when Tesco's shelves are empty.

Remember to check your oil level regularly. It's a hassle to run out completely as your boiler will need desludging.

Get interested in wildlife - I can spend hours watching birds, insects, hares, rabbits, foxes etc. it's like your own personal tv show.

Just accept that you will get mice in the house in the winter. We get loads of spiders too.

Dukesy

As someone who has lived in the countryside all my life (with the exception of my university years in London), that doesn't sound too rural at all!

We live on top of a hill in the !!!! end of nowhere. It's 7 miles to the nearest shop (petrol station), there is no bus service within a 3 mile radius, and cars are essential for everything. The one concession we have is a very rustic 'living room' pub within walking distance.

For me, it's perfect - no noise pollution, no light pollution, unspoilt views and so on. Yes, we DO get snowed in occasionally, but so long as you're well prepared for this, it's no problem. Make sure you have a cupboard and freezer full of 'rations'. As you'll be within walking distance of civilisation anyway, this shouldn't be a huge thing to worry about for you.

As we're miles from the nearest gas main and tanked oil or bottled gas is expensive, we rely heavily on electricity. To counter this (leccy is a bit dodgy up here, as well as costly), our central heating and hot water are run by the woodburner in the living room (also have immersion heater for the summer), which means that as long as we can find something to burn, we can cook, take baths and be warm if the power goes out. Personally, I would not even consider a house without the capacity for a fire.

It's always going to be a bit more difficult living in the country than in the town, but a little preparation and it's no big deal - you'll be used to it before you know it!

lostinrates

moromir wrote: »

I'd strongly disagree with this - Essex here and barely a year goes by without some form of being stuck in the house, be it a storm (this year), a flood (twice last year) and snow (several over my life time).

Doesn't really bother me but its definitely not 'uncommon' down here, perhaps because we're even less prepared for it!

We were impacted by the storm this year too. We were ok here....only relatively minor damage....a fence down, bits thrown a bout, no worse than usual winter damage luckily, but dh's train was cancelled in preparation...then the later one sat outside PADDINGTON for over half an hour. :rotfl: no rural issue at all.

Floods we have pumps for, snow we buy a tonne of grit for and grit ourselves for, and have an appropriate vehicle, drive appropriately and farmers used to clear roads more before peoe became letitgious. As it is, within the week to ten days dry good provision I suggested OP keeps in stock for winter in all but the worst winters she's have been reached by gritters to a road near her in the Home Counties, perhaps not a minor road she lives on, but she can crawl down that then make a steadier pace onward, or walk out the few miles and get a taxi from nearest gritted road if she is nervous. Personally, I drive, and have done always, even without a four by four, but timed my journeys sensibly in the main.

I'm afriad no one but ourselves can make us prepare for things adequately!

JimTracy

This place sounds amazing to me ! id be excited to be out in the peace and quiet, but of course that comes with the price of being a bit excluded. Even so, youre still only a few minutes car ride from civilisation ! enjoy your new home !

Itismehonest

2 miles isn't bad at all.

Like Dukesy, I live 4 miles from the nearest bus stop, 7 miles from the nearest village shops & 15 miles from a town with supermarkets/railway station/hospital. There will be others here who are even more remote.
There's no mains water or gas, of course. Slow broadband (at least there IS broadband) & no mobile signal.

The only thing I would point out is that rural living is about 20% more expensive than urban life. Extra petrol, the lack of nearby facilities, no duel fuel deals, normally higher CT etc. all add to the cost.
Remember, too, that depending on your area, the kids will want to be ferried everywhere.

Having lived here for 30 odd years we're used to it but we have seen people move out here with rather rose-tinted ideas who end up moving back to civilisation within a couple of years.
Also, as one gets older, there comes a time when the practicalities of living in a rural area mean moving closer to amenities becomes more appealing.

Gers

I'm just preparing to move into a remote rural place and can't wait! Eight miles to the nearest town, no street lights, no people and a view of the Atlantic. Got a CCTV camera ready to set up in the back 'garden' to watch the birds, deer and squirrels (red ones) and all other wildlife.

Planning includes a new chest freezer (Costco in Glasgow will be very useful); candles; torches; camping stove; non-perishable food and plenty of wood. Getting a movement sensitive light installed above the front door so that I can see/find the lock. Car going to be 'garaged' in the empty barn attached to the house and it's going to be blooming lovely. Not isolated but certainly remote.

Won't suit everyone.

Coveredinbees!!!!

I live in a village in Bedfordshire so not very remote but as mentioned before the power goes off regularly, the water supply isn't the most reliable often losing pressure and goes off and the internet speed is awful. I would move back in to a bigger town tomorrow but my wife won't even though she is always moaning about having to fill the car up. The Village school is good though only 15 in a class.

phoebe1989seb

We moved (from a large South Coast city, via semi-rural Essex) to a Wiltshire village two years ago. We are two miles from the nearest market town and our village (whilst small) has a village shop, farm shop, pub and butcher. There are loads of great walking opportunities for our dogs nearby - we're in an AONB - but it's very hilly and pavements are few and far between, so it's not possible to walk into town unfortunately.

We haven't really experienced too many issues with power cuts or broadband speed - and DH now works from home online so this is important to us. We have a trusty Land Rover Defender and don't understand how people manage out here with normal cars. I don't drive though which is a handicap IMHO.

DH adores it here, but for me it's too quiet and I miss the culture on offer in a city - museums, art galleries, theatres etc. We therefore try to pop up to London to visit DS (in SW19) as often as poss, but I certainly wouldn't want to grow old somewhere rural - we're only in our forties - and I'll personally be glad to get the renovations completed (18 months more?) and move back to civilisation

AdrianC

Coveredinbees!!!! wrote: »

I live in a village in Bedfordshire so not very remote but as mentioned before the power goes off regularly, the water supply isn't the most reliable often losing pressure and goes off and the internet speed is awful.

TBH, there's hardly a one-to-one relationship between those and location. I used to work out of a business partner's house in a small town in Hertfordshire - his power had frequent outages. We now live in a little hamlet of seven houses about a mile from a straggly 3-mile long 200-person village in the Welsh borders - and have had not even a brief blip in the six months we've been here.

Our internet connection's slow, sure - but it's twice the speed a friend in a village on the edge of Cambridge gets.

littlemissy29

Just wanted to say thanks all for the interesting read - We exchanged a couple of weeks ago and complete on Thursday - very excited.

Have taken funds out of savings account and ready to transfer to solicitor tomorrow - What do you think to a detour to the roulette table.. red or black - mortgage free in seconds - or back to the start of our lives..?!