Too rural?

Twiggy_34

Firstly I want to agree that your new home sounds idyllic! There is so much that's great about living out of the way from noise and light pollution.

Like some other posters I grew up in a similar setting, 1.5 miles from the nearest village and 3 miles from the nearest town. However in my case the house was on a riverbank sandwiched between the river and a main road, with only 1 immediate neighbour and farms between us and the village and town.

Sounds pretty lovely till the bit about the main road eh?! Actually it was fine, it's one of those things you get used to.

It was a great place to grow up, views across the levels across to the Mendips. Amazing sunsets (and sunrises, not that I was up early enough to witness many of these, especially in my teenage years!), and of course the clear starry skies at night. You got to watch the seasons change, watch fish in the river and kingfishers fishing, feed the swans and ducks, fly kites in the fields, play in nearby copses (even got to watch fox cubs playing nearby). No nearby shops to spend our money on sweets or crisps, so when we wanted something nice to eat we baked it ourselves. The excitement of watching a hot air balloon pass by and thinking it was going to land on my dads lorry parked on the riverbank! Absolutely amazing memories and experiences that I am eternally grateful for.

However, I am far from keen to live in such a remote location again. It was hell during my teenage years and my mum & dad most likely felt the burden of having 3 children who wanted ferrying to and from friends houses. The main road was a busy one with no footpath and only a lumpy/bumpy riverbank embankment that wasn't suitable for walking on for any length of time. The nearest bus stop was 1/2 a mile away and only had bus services to town in the morning and back in the evening. We weren't allowed out on the main road with our bikes until the ages of 14 which ruled out that mode of transport before that time.

Then, later on, I failed 2 driving tests meaning my mum had to take me to and from college, and later work, from the age of 16 through to 19, at which point I moved to the town. Absolute heaven, regular bus services and everything on my doorstep, and that's still how I like it even though I've now been driving for 8 years! The supermarket is just around the corner meaning I can easily nip out for groceries, I can also visit any of the local pubs without worrying about how I can get home. This is probably a good time to point out that I have no kids, nor do I have any intention to have any, so that probably plays a part in my lifestyle choices/preferences!

Probably the thing I still miss the most are the views and sunsets. If I get my way, my goal is for us to save enough money together to get a property in a more elevated position in town so that I can have the best of both worlds, I'd even be able to see my childhood home!

Ultimately though, each to their own, everyone is different and hopefully you will all love it. I would just ask you to bear in mind the restrictions your choice of location might have on the kids when they're older, and the expectations they might have of you, as their chauffeur!

moneyistooshorttomention

Good luck with your move and hope it goes well for you.

I couldn't go as rural as you. I don't have a car for a start, so have to have some "convenience".

Having recently moved to somewhere a good bit more "rural" than I had before, I've realised I haven't got as much of the "nerves on edge" permanently thing I had in the city I was in before. There...I was always having to be on "semi alert" in case of bikes nearly riding into me on pavements, beggars and drunks hanging around (very little of that here), keeping an eye out ready to tell the Council of flytipping/graffiti/etc in my neighbourhood, having my sleep disturbed by traffic/planes/neighbours. Here I only have to be "on alert" to make sure I smile and say "hello" back when greeted by people as I pass them in the street...much pleasanter than having to be "on alert" to safeguard myself.

So, even though I'm still in process of getting work done on my new house and having all the aggravation of workmen letting me down here and making mistakes that I'm having to get them to correct there....my nerves are a good bit less frazzled than they were back in that city. It wasn't all the "fault" of the city...as I was getting pretty aggravated at still being in a starter house at my age, so a bit of it is the feeling of "The house 'fits' me now that its detached/garden/etc".

I look forward to how calm I anticipate feeling here more rurally once the immediate work has been finished on the house and there's no workmen to keep an eye on anymore.:)

NB; Forget the roulette table...life can dish out quite enough "challenges" without going asking for them imo...

Raksha

If you don't like it, I'll swop...

thestens

We are just in the process of buying a house with amazing views, down a farm track through two gates with only a couple of weekend cottages nearby. The nearest village is about 1.5 miles (pub and church, no shop) and a market town is 6 miles. We are both in our early 60s and have been thinking about something like this for a few years. We believe if we don't try it, we will always wonder "what if...". At the moment we live on a small 70s estate in a village close to a big urban conurbation, about 40 mins from where we are moving to, so close enough to still visit friends, shop, etc. We reckon we'll give it 10yrs maximum, then move back somewhere sensible! If we don't like it or it's too hard, we'll sell up and put it down to experience! You can probably do the same!!

Barrasford

Rural yet only 5 minutes car journey away from civilization. I remember as a kid having a 45 minute bus journey to school. I thought I lived a rural life until I met a friend from British Columbia.

As always everything is relative. Give it a go and move again if it doesn't work out.

Mojisola

littlemissy29 wrote: »

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

How are things going?