To think more people will want to live rurally now?

[Butterfliesandbears]

Property in cities has generally been more expensive but since covid it seems like maybe rural/village living will have the edge?

• larger houses/gardens
  
• can work from home
  
• countryside nearby for walks
  

-more space/less crowded generally

Or am I overstating it do people think? Will city living continue to be popular?

[GinDaddyRedux]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52977890

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-8403401/Country-homes-worth-1m-lead-way-property-sales-edge-up.html

and in Scotland..

www.heraldscotland.com/news/18510261.lockdown-interest-scots-country-homes-soars-buyers-seek-gardens/

etc etc

There are dozens of such articles at the moment. Every property portal known wants to show how many people are now searching for the rural idyll instead of prime London etc.

[Justcallmebebes]

Please guys, stay in the cities

[OlaEliza]

I expect the government will try to make this as difficult as possible, what with agenda 21 or whatever it is

[Justcallmebebes]

If you were one of the 240 people having the vapours about a deer leg in the garden, definitely stay in the city!

[Hingeandbracket]

@Justcallmebebes

Please guys, stay in the cities

Yep, please stay the flip away in your vibrant cultural hubs :)

[GinDaddyRedux]

@Justcallmebebes @hingeandbracket

With the kind of property I'd buy if I sold up, you wouldn't even know I was there, so I wouldn't worry about issuing your snooty stay-aways any more.

[Didiusfalco]

I’m not sure about properly rural, but I think commuters towns where people can get bigger gardens and more space but still get to their offices will do well. I think it might become harder to shift expensive flats.

[BlusteryLake]

Well not if the rural residents on here are anything to go by! Living somewhere doesn't mean you own the village you know!

[Justcallmebebes]

"Snooty stay aways" lol. We are far from Snooty and that's why we want you to stay away! Don't bring your Snooty city ways here mate. Ta

[ThePlantsitter]

I'm less likely to want to personally. Rather die of covid than live with unwelcoming small mindedness (such as that which is displayed in this thread hardly any posts in).

Also, more hospitals and better access to medical care generally.

[BeKindOrBeQuiet]

Rural living is very different to how some people think it is. I'm on the outskirts of a village and I used to live in the suburbs. It's different in many many ways

Not as idyllic as people imagine

[BlusteryLake]

But seriously, I think that towns that were previously overlooked because of poor transport links to cities might become more popular

[Growingboys]

They don't like folk who are different to them in the country.

I prefer city life - people are more open-minded and interesting.

[GladAllOver]

It's fine providing you accept that you must lose the facilities you take for granted in the city - great public transport, lots of local shops, choice of schools, fast broadband etc.

[GinDaddyRedux]

Why would you automatically ask someone to "stay away" if you're the opposite of snooty?

You don't know anything about me or any other city-dweller. Nothing.

With this kind of mentality, it's why your kids and your neighbour's kids end up screaming to leave your rural idyll when they realise that a different opportunity and buzz lies elsewhere, and that garden centres, walks and country pubs are fine up to a point.

[mumofamenagerie]

I think people will maybe move further away from city centres to get a garden and more access to green space, but less likely to move to the sort of area we’ve just moved to (rural hamlet, all planned from December last year) unless they’ve wanted to in their hearts for a whole (we live next door to a cattle farm so if you don’t like countryside smells you probably wouldn’t like it here).

[MinnieMountain]

Having grown up in the countryside but lived in a city most of my adult life, I can see it both ways.

I think on balance that most people are more likely to do as @Didiusfalco says. The countryside can be wonderful but you need to drive everywhere.

[krustykittens]

The problem with country living is affording it. We have a big house, land, ponies, etc but in an area where there is bugger all work and the city that provides most of the employment would be a two hour commute door to door. Lots of people might prefer to live more rurally but for many the commute would impact on their quality of life. As much as I love where I am now, I wouldn't live here if I had to commute four hours a day.

[krustykittens]

Sorry, should have said that we can live here as we both work exclusively from home.

[anon5000]

Not a chance I'd want to live rurally.

[Woeismethischristmas]

I live rurally and I've found it welcoming. Not in a village though more in a can't see your neighbours houses sort of way. I would say it is visually idyllic but quite hard work to maintain. Big garden, old house, annual power cut, crappy broadband, phone lines going down annually as bt don't cut back trees.

Gorgeous though, lovely for the children, they have a lot of freedom to roam as do thechickens.

[mumofamenagerie]

Also for everyone denigrating rural communities, in this little area everyone is super friendly and accepting, we bought from a gay couple who were v popular, one of the residents is a Traveller, a local sheep farmer with mental health problems is looked after by all the locals, etc etc.

So don’t write the countryside off as bigoted/unfriendly. We’ve had home made jam, scones, and fresh eggs left since we arrived, and letters with contact numbers so others can show us the sights when lockdown is eased more! (This is in rural Scotland, we’ve moved up from England.)

[Woeismethischristmas]

I'd also say that there is bugger all work. Lots of people work for themselves or seasonally in tourism.

[trappedsincesundaymorn]

If people want to live rurally as in villages rather than commuter towns then they need to be prepared for

No public transport
No takeaway delivery services such as Uber Eats/Deliveroo
No secondary schools within walking distance
Expensive petrol stations
No nearby supermarkets and if there is a village shop it will be very pricey
Dodgy wi-fi connection
No Virgin and other cable services
No post Office
Unsalted roads during the winter (unless there is a bus route)
Noise. This time of year the countryside is very noisy. Hay-bailing and silage cutting means that the farmers are out late and tractors are still going past at 11-12midnight but be prepared to only get a few hours sleep as the dawn chorus starts at 4.30 am.
Smells. During muck spreading the stench of cow poop is overwhelming.

I wish I lived in a city.

[clary]

Different people like different things, for sure, but as someone brought up in a small village, there is no way I would live anywhere but a city.

Especially as I get older - better public transport, good healthcare in easy reach, good shops, cinemas, cafes and swimming pools nearby.

Oh and you can work from home in the city too, and as it goes we are near the country in my edge-of-city suburb.