City-dwellers looking to move to the country - advice/experiences?

Timpu

Definitely finding points on this thread ring true to our own experiences.

There are some things that I don't think have been mentioned:

*People will take an interest in your affairs like it or not, the delivery of a stairgate can be blown out of proportion
*Village gossip is as bad as we thought, we just grin politely
*You have no choice but to get on with the creepy guy around the corner
*The pace of life is much slower than in the city, accept it
*You will be constantly invited to join clubs, tennis/bowls/bridge/golf which over here, are very cliquey

Having said all that, it's the best move I've ever made and haven't a single regret, despite being a city person through and through. People are friendly, well meaning and generally look out for each other. I still can't used to the amount of space.

Margot123

I moved from an inner city flat on a major junction, to what appeared to be an idyllic country cottage some years ago.
What struck me immediately was that you cannot assume it is quiet in the countryside. The most notable thing was traffic noise, followed by the 24-hour farm noises of machinery, animals, tractors and lorries reversing with bleepers, farm workers shouting to each other, and various other noise that wouldn't be permissible from an industrial unit/factory. There is also the crop spraying that is done even when the wind is blowing over houses, and you can taste it in the air! The flies from the muck heaps (which are human muck not animal contrary to popular belief).

Give me the city any day, hop on and off trams/buses rather than waiting 2 hours for the local bus service. Pop to the corner shop on foot rather than a 6 mile round trip in the car for a bottle of milk.
Oh and the long wait for the ambulance to find you when you need them most :-(

moneyistooshorttomention

Margot - I think the clue to all this (ie a move to a very different environment) boils down to the fact that the vast majority of us simply don't realise just how different things can be. It does boil down to "I'm in the same country - so just how can things be that different?" scenario....and then you realise they can be.....

Followed by I do not think it's acceptable for "those that are there" already to start trying to "belt the person that's moved there" for commenting about it. It isnt a criticism by and large - it is an objective "analysis how things are" comment. There is every chance that someone used to "things being very rural" would make comments back in reverse.

What is actually being said (in both cases) is a comment/ query about just how different things are and trying to get a "best case scenario" of the "best of both worlds" - rather than trying to change things to a "How things are in a very different scenario".

So - yep....I don't get what is supposed to be "wrong" with trying to get a "best of both worlds" scenario either...:cool:

Neither "side" is "wrong" or "right". There are advantages and disadvantages both ways - and so why shouldnt we all have a "best of both worlds" scenario?

tim9966

I grow up in the countryside, and still go back to visit my parents there for a weekend or 2 every month.


Power Cuts. So far 3 power cuts since September lasting 2-6 hours as everything is supplied by overhead cables.


No mains sewers. You can a tank that needs to be emptied by lorry every year of so.


No gas. Oil filed central heating which needs to be filled up in bulk by lorry once a year, plus a wood burner.


Slow internet. Broadband for them is about 2mb now, however I can get a 5mb 4G signal there now which is better.


A 12 mile round trip to get a takeaway. You need to plan you shopping for the week in advance.


They have a digester 2 miles up the road which local tractors from 20 miles around supply every 5-10 minutes in peak times around October with grass and maize. Last year when I was there the tractors all towing large trailers were out until 1am.


Fly tipping in field gate ways has become a problem.


Plus sides are no drunks walking past at 2am, no one overlooking you, very few neighbours to worry about, so you can turn the TV or music up, or cut the grass early on a sunday morning.

Margot123

"Plus sides are no drunks walking past at 2am"..........
No the locals drive instead, knowing there are no Police for miles around, and when you report them, they have been snoozing in bed for hours before anyone turns up, if at all.

EachPenny

Soundgirlrocks wrote: »

Accept you will always be an outsider

That only applies for the first 20 years. After 10 you will no longer be referred to as "the new family in [insert previous owner's name]'s house."

To the OP... the most important thing is for your friends to really understand why it is they want to move to the countryside. Many people are tempted by the rural idyll, but are not happy with what they find when they get there.

The countryside is a business, not a theme park. And the people living there will, for the most part, now be working in towns and cities which means traffic and homes which are empty for most of the week and not always inviting to neighbours at the weekend.

I spent the first half of my life in the countryside and I still love it. But the countryside is like a puppy - the idea is lovely, but it comes with unexpected inconveniences and annoyances, and you really need to be sure you can cope with them before you take the plunge

Davesnave

Margot123 wrote: »

I moved from an inner city flat on a major junction, to what appeared to be an idyllic country cottage some years ago.
What struck me immediately was that you cannot assume it is quiet in the countryside. The most notable thing was traffic noise, followed by the 24-hour farm noises of machinery, animals, tractors and lorries reversing with bleepers, farm workers shouting to each other, and various other noise that wouldn't be permissible from an industrial unit/factory. There is also the crop spraying that is done even when the wind is blowing over houses, and you can taste it in the air! The flies from the muck heaps (which are human muck not animal contrary to popular belief).

Give me the city any day, hop on and off trams/buses rather than waiting 2 hours for the local bus service. Pop to the corner shop on foot rather than a 6 mile round trip in the car for a bottle of milk.
Oh and the long wait for the ambulance to find you when you need them most :-(

Just as all urban locations aren't the same, so country places vary enormously.

People are used to sussing out the best parts of a town, but when it comes to the countryside, the markers are less clear.

For example, regular spraying happens when the property is next to arable, but how many people consider that when they spot a lovely cottage?

The countryside isn't a museum of quaintness, so there will be noise, but the activities that go on in an area will be governed by the type of farming, so that needs as much consideration as the view, or the distance to services.

Regarding those services, it isn't possible to have all of them, like a town dweller, so again, there are choices to be made. For example, we have a bus service passing the gate and a railway station 5 minutes by car, which is also the time it takes to reach the doctor, dentist, butcher and baker, but a full size Sainsburys, or a cinema/theatre is at least 40 minutes away. Big freezers solve most workaday problems, like running out of milk.

For emergencies, we have the air ambulance, which is 4 minutes flying time from here and first responders are based at the fire station a mile away.

Not everyone living rurally is as well located as we are here, but that's because we chose very carefully and rejected dozens of properties that had fewer advantages. We couldn't find what we wanted and have a pretty, period cottage, so that was our large compromise.Unless pockets are really deep, there's always at least one of those.

Cash-Cows

25 years might stop the “newcomers” comments, but don’t count on it.

Conkers. Get some. Reduces spiders invasion, although found one sitting on one once.

Don’t even think of doing any work on your house without being reported to planning enforcement.

Slithery

Cash-Cows wrote: »

Conkers. Get some. Reduces spiders invasion, although found one sitting on one once.

Old wives tale, they have absolutely no effect.

Davesnave

Slithery wrote: »

Old wives tale, they have absolutely no effect.

I think it's been shown that there's a chemical in new conkers which might have some deterrent effect, but that it quickly stops being active as they dry out.

It's like the 'outsiders' comments. That was true where I am decades ago, but with half the village now owned by people who came here from elsewhere, it's not relevant now. Without these outsiders, the place wouldn't function as a social environment.

A more valid division nowadays might be, 'people who participate and those who just live here.'