Living in a village without a car - cycle?

ruperts

With regards to cycling, looking at Stevenage to Baldock (I don't know the area) on a map it's a distance of about 8 miles, fairly flat and served by National Cycle Network Route 12, which will be predominantly dedicated cycle paths. That's a perfectly viable daily cycle commute all year round, except perhaps on the few days per year when it's icy, and even then you could still cycle if you take extra precautions.

I'm not sure about the rest of your situation but on the possibility of cycle commuting between those two places it's definitely feasible. As cycle commutes go it looks quite ideal really.

Larac

I live in in a village in North Buckinhamshire and TBH you would struggle to live there without a car. I live around 3 miles from a main line station to London and the local bus service is hourly at best, Sunday service and evenings after 7pm is PP. We moved to the Village as my then husband came from a village in Kent. My kids 19-24 find living in a Village quite restrictive - no Uber so taxi fares are expensive and as a parent it was and still a never ending taxi service. IMHO Village life suited when the kids were below the age if 16 - My late Mother pointed out that living here was not viable if you cannot drive. If you can't drive then I would seriously review whether moving to a village is good choice

Davesnave

deannatrois wrote: »

I think you will find, regardless of which party is in office, village life has gone downhill.

Or looked at another way, it's gone up-market.

Despite the building of about 50+ houses in the past 50 years, my village only has 600 residents, when it used to have a population of around 1100.

The majority of today's households here have more than one vehicle.

You can work out much of the rest yourselves. Older retired people with money have replaced the young, who are generally not that keen to stay, even at affordable prices. This brings problems, because most things going on here are run and supported by older people.

Personally, I don't mind, as I'm not young. When I was, I chose to live in a small city and enjoyed the facilities, both as a student and when bringing-up a family. It was a no-brainer for those from the countryside who'd become socially mobile to move away from villages. It still is IMO, although strongly publicized aspects of city life, like pollution and higher crime rates, might persuade some to stay. The local comp has very good exam results; there's sod-all in the way of distractions for rurally-based teens!

Nebulous2

I don't know the location and haven't looked at the maps / topography etc. However 8 miles each way is perfectly feasible as a year round commute on a bike. After a bit of practice you could well get that down to 30/40 minutes each way. It does take a bit of thought, needs the right kit and changing facilities at work.

Most of the cycle forums have a dedicated commuting section. I'm a regular on cyclechat. They would be happy to answer questions and provide ideas on what you need. Like most forums everyone wont agree on everything, but you would get enough information to get you started.

OldMusicGuy

ncmscnc wrote: »

The position is not really something to be proud of but the scope of my work and what I can learn is within my control. Not many companies allow or hand us the agency to decide that in the early stages.

So if you're going into corporate accounting rather than working for an auditing/accounting firm, this may not be a bad move. Make sure you set some clear objectives about the skills you want to learn, and move on if those objectives are not being met. Look at the skills that are most in demand in more senior roles in companies you may want to work for in the future and make sure you acquire them.

What's most important is to not get "stuck" there if your goals are not being met.

I spent 40 years in corporate accounting and business systems. After about 10 years in corporate accounting I took a pay cut and moved to a "name" company where I ran the accounting and payroll systems and switched from running a finance team to focusing on the IT/business systems side. It was a great move because I preferred the systems side of things to actually "doing" corporate accounting and it turned into a successful 30 years in business systems.

Yalpsmol

I didnt realise (as someone else figured out) it was only 8 miles. Thats fine to ride all year arohnd IMO. If its precarious cycling (ice, etc) it wouldn't be great driving either. Riding for 45 mins in bad weather isnt too miserable. Depends how "outdoorsy" you are I guess. If you dont like cycling or rain then it might not be great. If you like them, it'll be fine when you've invested in soe neoprene overshoes and a good rain coat etc.

zagubov

I'd not recommend cycling in the area in the winter. When it snowed there the ditches were full of cars that had swerved off the road. Never seen anything like it in the other places I've lived (OK they were always cities).

Bedfordshire wasn't Siberia but the east of the UK isn't well served by the gulf stream.

Here's a suggestion: find a mate with a car and drive to the area and explore the transport routes between the villages/towns and the workplace. Buy them dinner and drinks on your return and obviously pay for the petrol.

Time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted.