Would you buy a house where the most direct route to school is a footpath that crosses fields?

[Ginazon]

The choice would be between half a mile across the fields, or almost 2 miles walking on normal residential roads.

Would you let your 11/12/13/14/15 year old walk on the footpath? If you wouldn't let them, would you trust them not to?

The footpath is lined with trees/shrubs so not like it's a clear open space with sight lines all around.

What’s wrong with fields?

Im confused as to what the issue is?

I used to cross two fields with no proper paths to get to school, so dont see any problem.

They eventually built on the fields but not till I left secondary

Very muddy, too isolated? Mud is big issue in my mind. Oh, farmers with shotguns, too.

Oh, I guess I'm a soft towny. It seems isolated, with big bushes and trees for big bad wolves to hide in to lie in wait for passing teenagers...

Sounds perfect

Last I checked teenagers were the big bad wolves!

Last I checked teenagers were the big bad wolves!

Ha

I'm looking into the future, so I guess it's hard to imagine 9-year-old dd as the big bad.

I nearly wrote same thing as CUnexttime.

We have opposite, 1.5 miles across the fields or 1 mile on foot. The kids and I walk via fields every day!!

When they are old enough they will walk either way

Field walks are the best!

Huh, thought I’d get a couple of posts that sort of saw my concerns.

I live somewhere similar, but on the outer skirts of a city and path takes them to their school bus stop. The path is totally enclosed by tree and hedges.

We've had 3 warnings from school in the past year alone about men hanging round and sometimes following school kids when they get off the buses.

DS are almost 6' and walk the that way, I wasn't happy about ds1 in year 7 walking it on his own.

Sadly I'd be more twitchy if I DDs.

I think that it's got a lot to do with the emails from school, We get aleast one a year. one year it was about man exposing himself, in alley right next to school, An ally that most local DC walk down.

Fields are way safer than towns, it's really not a thing to worry about.

I wouldn't be that keen, particularly on dark mornings/evenings. Do you have more than one DC? Can they walk together? D

I get your concerns... especially when it gets dark early. I wouldn't be happy however on the residential route, cars and traffic would be a concern too.

If you’re worried maybe look at the crime stats for the area - i can sort of see how if it’s fields on the outskirts of a town you might be worried about ppl drifting into the fields to do something nefarious but I think you should see if anything has actually happened you should worry about, like the flasher a pp mentioned. If the footpath smells of piss, has piles of rubbish or needles intermittently and you can hear ppl talking from dens in the bushes then I’d get your concerns, on balance I think the roads are more dangerous though.

Not to school but mine all walked across fields to the twice a day bus.
I remember my eldest daughter starting secondary when we lived very remotely. She asked for a torch in her stocking as she’d had to feel her way along the bushes in the mornings to the school bus pick up point. It was only half a mile but it was, of course, pitch black.

There is a good point about the relative dangers of roads vs bush-lurkers.

If you need to catch a bus or whatever it’s different but the distance the OP is talking about is similar to ours and we never have to do it in the dark

No i wouldn’t like that. It would worry me a lot

I wouldn't like the field option in the winter when it's dark on their way home from school.

Is there livestock in the fields? If so, do your DC know how to behave around them?

Yes of course. As long as it was regularly used as a footpath. Far more risky are routes which cross busy roads which most secondary school children have to deal with every day. It only takes a moment's inattention, or a distracted driver.

My DD's friend was knocked down by a car on a busy road next to the school (DD was not with her at the time). She had to go to hospital and was injured, but fully recovered. By far the biggest threat to the safety of kids aged 11+ is road traffic.