Town vs village?

MrsE_2

ACG wrote: »

I have lived in Manchester suburbs all my life.

Whatever you want is on hand whenever you want - food/drink/entertainment/chemists/taxis/buses/supermarkets anything!

18 months ago I moved about 10 miles out to a village of around 8-9000 people. It came as a bit of a surprise, considering im not that far out.
Nightlife is limited to a pub which is like something from Emmerdale! It closes at midnight.

Take-aways are shockingly bad, the latest is open till 1am and if you go at that time theyre scratching around for food.

Buses/trains are non existant once it gets beyond 7-8pm during the week, even earlier on a sunday - not so bad as I drive but a bit expensive on taxis after a night out.

Im in my late 20s so we may have a different perspective but I still have a bit of a social life.

I know someone who has moved into a little village, he has to book a taxi 24 hours in advance if he wants it in the middle of the night!

9k people & it's a village?
We don't have take aways, we do have a fish & chip van visits on a Wednesday & a pizza oven on a Thursday (the pizza oven thing is new).
No train either or Sunday buses.

sofiar

Born and bred in a town, now live in a village, if you value privacy then don't move to a village! Saying that I do prefer villages over towns

ACG

I suppose it is more of a town but it feels tiny after living in manchester.

I can walk from one end to the other in 5-10 mins.

Im not complaining, as someone else has mentioned there are downsides to living in a city.

I go back to where i was brought up and I dread to think I could have my kids being brought up there. Kids with hoods up, their little drug bangs hanging like handbags etc

Thrugelmir

Depends on the village, and distance to civilisation.

My village was 13 miles to the nearest supermarket, 7 miles to the nearest petrol station and 11 miles to the nearest town.

I loved living there. At times was a pain though. As things had to be planned like a military operation. No popping out to get anything.

AdrianC

MrsE wrote: »

9k people & it's a village?

s'wot I was thinking... We're in a "suburb" (population 15) of a village (200ish, centre's about a mile from us), half way between two towns (1,500 and 3,000), about 4-5 miles to either. The nearest big town (11,000 - second biggest conurbation in the county) and the city (60,000) are each 20-25 miles away...

Peter333

If your children are tiny and not at school yet, then moving into village life is a wonderful move. You will need to ferry them about a bit if there is no public transport like in my village though, but most of the friends and their life will be in the village.

If they are older - like say 8 and older, it could up-heave them, and you will be ferrying them around for a long time to the old place you used to live until they make new friends.

My village has 450 people, and only about 6 streets, and a Church, a village shop that is open 5 hours a day, no public transport, no pharmacy and doctor for 5 miles, no train station for 10 miles and a tiny primary school with about 45 - 60 kids at any one time. A 'school bus' ferrys the teenagers to the secondary school 5 miles away. There is one road in and one road out, (narrow one car wide farm track type thing,) and it's not a 'through road,' to anywhere else, so nobody comes here unless they live here. The nearest main A road is 2 miles away.

But the lack of amenities is a small price to pay.

You can hear a pin drop 50% of the time, at night you hear only cows mooing occasionally and the Church clock chiming once an hour, the shop has an 'honesty box,' and they have bread, papers, a small fridge outside the shop (under a canopy) with milk and cream and yoghurts and butter. Also eggs and cheese and milk and fruit and veg from one of the local farms, and a number of tinned products, amongst a number of other things, ALL under the canopy. You take what you want and pop the money into the box.

In the 3 years we have been here (after living in a large town all our lives,) 10 times more people have spoken to us than in any place we have ever lived. Everyone speaks to you when they see you, people look after the elderly and disabled, and people give lifts to town for them once or twice a week, if they need it, and get anything they need if they can't get out.

It's a 10 minute walk to the canal, a 10 minute walk to the river, and a 10 minute walk from a huge woodland. In addition, it's surrounded by fields and farmlands, and there are horses and sheep and cows everywhere, as well as badgers, the odd fox, and bunnies running free!

Also, they have village activities every week including bingo, pub quizzes (there is one pub,) a writing group, a book club, an art group, a fishing club, a young mums and toddlers group, a ramblers club, and 2 'women's groups;' one based around the Church. One thing about villages; they are very social and friendly (well ours is anyway!) and you will never be lonely!

Every day, my wife and I thank God that we came here. Best move we ever made.

As I said though, not sure it would have been if we had had school age children when we moved.

I would recommend it though. It's a great way of life. Our quality of life has improved massively since we moved here.

onlyroz

I was brought up in a hamlet - two streets of about 25 houses each - and it was deadly. The only amenities were an often vandalised phone box and bus stop, and an hourly bus service. Yes, we had open fields and a small wood to play in but I would have given anything for a few shops and a pub.

I now live in a small town made up of four villages with easy access to half-a-dozen larger towns and I much much much prefer it.

Tosca3

I live in a village with about 3000 residents.

Two pubs, two small supermarkets, a chemist, an art gallery, an electrical shop, a clock shop, a classic car showroom, two estate agents, a Cafe, a Chinese, an Indian, a Fish and Chip shop, Thai has just shut, a butchers, a fruit and veg shop, a clothes shop, an antique shop, two churches, two hairdressers, a library and three schools.

I am also about 3 miles away from one of the best shopping towns in the South East, apart from the traffic on the main road through the village there is nothing not to like really.

SG27

If the village has easy access to amenities then always village. It's great to be surrounded by countryside. Our village has 3 pubs, doctors surgery/pharmacy, church, shop and post office. All within a 5 minute walk. It's actually easier for me to get the shops/post office here than when I lived in a town where I had to get in my car and drive to the town centre then pay to park!

MrsE_2

Some of your villages sound big - what's the difference between a town & a village?