Pro's and con's of living in "the sticks"

krustylouise

The school is very popular and has been for a long time. It's actually sought out by parents due to its high ofsted reports. It has alot of help and support from parents and governors. But I suppose there is always a time when something could happen.

Yes there are street lights, its awfully dark at the moment when we arrive at school just before 8am so I'm grateful for these!

suki1964

hardpressed wrote: »

A couple of points, you say the school has 45 pupils, how long will it be considered viable to run such a small school? Does the village have street lights? If not this can come as a big shock for people who are used to having them.

45 is considered quite large here. We have one school with just 8 pupils

moneyistooshorttomention

suki1964 wrote: »

45 is considered quite large here. We have one school with just 8 pupils

Now confesses to distinct curiosity as to where you live! Guessing at one of the islands?

mardatha

Same here Suki, at it's lowest, our wee school had 12 one to one attention 5 days a week there eh

suki1964

mardatha wrote: »

Same here Suki, at it's lowest, our wee school had 12 one to one attention 5 days a week there eh

There was a time a couple of years back when the school had only 3 children. The teacher took his own children in so they had other kids to play with

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Now confesses to distinct curiosity as to where you live! Guessing at one of the islands?

I live in North Antrim The school in question in on an island just off the coast at Ballycastle, called Raithlin, population of around 100.

mardatha

I always wanted to live in the Aran Islands... last time I was there I cried in the plane coming home lol, didnt want to come!

moneyistooshorttomention

suki1964 wrote: »

There was a time a couple of years back when the school had only 3 children. The teacher took his own children in so they had other kids to play with



I live in North Antrim The school in question in on an island just off the coast at Ballycastle, called Raithlin, population of around 100.

Confesses I'd not heard of it, so I had a quick google and watched the video about it.

It looks very attractive and...wow....rather remote ....

CathA

When my girls were small, the twins went to a village school. The school was too far away to walk, (we lived in the nearby town, about 3 miles away) so you must be prepared, if you stay where you are, to be tied for the next few years to the 9/3 school run. Is there another parent you can share the school run with? I did that and it was great, several days a week where I didn't have to do it!! One of the girls friends lived directly opposite the school in the village, and her mum had a lot of driving to do over the evenings and weekends for clubs sleep overs, parties etc. Bear in mind, if you move to the village, other parents will have to do a lot of driving to you if your kiddies have friends over a lot. When the friend got older, and with no transport at all from the village, her mum was forever running the children about. Many a time she had to stay up late when the older daughter was out with her friends, waiting to pick her up from here, there and everywhere. Of course there is the option of taxis, but that's not a cheap option either.

However, if you live in town, believe me there's still a lot of running about after children as they get older, and even in town public transport is not necessarily an option. It seems wherever you live, the kids always want to go somewhere/be somewhere else that involves mum's taxi!!

If I had my choice years ago, I would have lived in a village. There are advantages and disadvantages on both sides, but if you get organized with shopping (if no local shop) and accept that you'll always be in the car taking someone somewhere, go for it. Kids grow up, and on the plus side if they want to go hither and thither, it doesn't half encourage them to learn to drive more quickly!! Then they can run YOU about, so everyone's a winner.

Whatever you decide, good luck and I hope it works out well for you.

phoebe1989seb

Broomstick wrote: »

Years ago I moved with a 1 yr old and a 3 yr old from a town into a village and put on weight :eek: which was something I had not bargained for. In the town (which was hilly) I walked everywhere with one child in the buggy and the other in a backpack carrier. I only really used the car for trips out of town or the once-a-week supermarket shop.

When we moved to the edge of the village there were no pavements and it was scary to leave our drive to walk on the verges or the road edge just to get to the local shops. The roads were winding and many cars drove too fast. In order to cope, we ended up driving everywhere and the net result was that I got fatter!

If you do decide to move, make sure that you can get safely from the new house to everywhere you might need to go within the village area with whatever on-foot baby transport you intend to use.

B x

This is very similar to my experience Seven years ago we moved from a large city to the outskirts of a town, then again in 2011 to a rural location (smallish village of around forty houses with a pub, shop and butcher) and as I don't drive I relied on DH to ferry me about - 3 miles to nearest small town with no footpaths - as I didn't fancy risking being knocked over by a boy racer! DH actually narrowly escaped being hit by a bus outside our vilłage stores only last week as it swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle.

When we lived in the city I also walked everywhere and I was fit as well as thin. Living in the country I gained two stone in weight which I have only just managed to lose by dieting and exercising in the home. Even walking our two dogs involves a drive to somewhere with no motorists and where there are pavements

We have taken the (easy for me, less so for DH who loves rural life) decision to sell up and next week we are moving back to a village that is on the outskirts of a large town, with pavements, shops within walking distance, parks for the dogs and gas heating rather than oil Not only that but the countryside will be on our doorstep too.....

The family that have bought our house are moving from the nearby small town and can't wait to fully embrace the rural lifestyle. They have kids aged between eight and fourteen, but both parents drive and I believe the kids already have friends in our village.

I do wonder how long it will be before the excitement of country living pales for the kids.....I know that DS had friends who came in from outlying villages to school in the city and once those kids reached teenage years most of them were bored rigid at weekends/evenings and a few families opted to move closer to *the action*

In the city virtually all of the activities DS was involved in were within walking distance - good job what with me not driving and DH working away a lot - except swimming, which my parents took him to, although tbh as he was a cathedral chorister for eight years he didn't have much spare time girl extra-curricular stuff, lol!

That said, I think if you are determined to give it your best shot OP and as DD is already settled at the village school plus it will be a good few years before DD and her sibling reach teenage years, it might be the right move for your family......

GL whatever you decide!

duchy

Doing a school run in winter with a little one in tow of six miles when you could be on the spot sounds crazy -and your daughter will probably have a better social life living closer to her classmates. If you aren't bothered about afte school activities like ballet etc that might need a town location then it seems like it would suit.

With regards to the broadband - just because the village also has TalkTalk it doesn't mean you will get the same speeds you are getting in town as one of the things that determines speed is distance from exchange and if you are six miles from the exchange you'd be getting something like 2 meg- obviously lots of places have fibre now so may not be as bad as that but definitely something to check out if it is important to you.