I want to live in a rural village and be a primary school teacher

[MrsCremuel]

Or something of that ilk? I have a DH, baby and toddler and want to overhaul our lives. I’ve never really done anything drastic in life, mainly because family (parents etc) circs but I’ve always hankered after a different sort of life.

I hate the southeast. So busy and over priced. I desperately want to live somewhere rural. DH could take redundancy, sell a flat he owns and we could live mortgage free. I’m planning on retraining anyway so could get a job so could do anywhere. We recently had 6 weeks off together with the new baby and it was bliss. After wfh stops DH will be back to being out of the house from 7.30-7.30 4 days a week with one day wfh. I don’t want to go back to that, it’s been so good for our toddler and me to have him around more!

Anyone done something drastic to overhaul their lives? Am I being a whimsical fool?

"Oh your houses are so cheap, I'd love to move North" said one, "But I need to, you know, work."

Let me guess - they consider themselves 'well travelled' but have never set foot north of Watford?

@BubbleCoffee

Village, not 'rural village' unless you're happy to be labelled the naive townie when you arrive.

The use of rural village is useful for this thread though. As I've mentioned there is a difference between a rural village and a semi-rural one and then I suppose some are really just suburbs of towns. A rural village to me is a village on its own, not close to any towns.

You absolutely can do this, it's not a crazy pipe dream, it's very doable. We live in Shropshire, it's a lovely part of the country. An hour or so from Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, an hour to the Welsh coast, rolling countryside. Half an hour from Shrewsbury and Chester.

Get your jobs sorted and go for it.

@Kikkomam

Of course she's not being a fool! Small country schools need teachers and it's a nice job to have.

It is a nice job to have. However, our newest teacher at our school arrived 8 years ago. My responsibilities are: *Maths co-ordinator *Science co-ordinator *Assessment co-oridinator *KS2 Lead (and therefore SLT, though no extra money for it) * Plus all the usual bits and bobs that go along with teaching Year 6

Rural schools tend to see extremes in wealth - our village is very affluent but our catchment is wide. There are more social problems than you might expect.

The above comment makes it sound like we're all Miss Honey floating about being lovely

If I were you, as a starting point, I would look for another job in HR outside London. I might aim for a city so I can have the best of both worlds: amenities and entertainment, and be at the doorstep of some countryside or national park. Then revaluate a few years later. Will you still want to go into primary teaching? Will you still crave a real rural experience? It may well be the case you are happy where you are.

I'd say 'rural' just means countryside-related.

For the OP, it sounds as if the important thing is having access to beautiful places as she's talking about that calming her down.

For others it might be more important to be isolated.

It's personal.

FWIW, I don't think rural villages necessarily do mean people will label all incomers naive townies. Just depends where you are.

We lived rurally in a beautiful house in a beautiful village with no amenities and an hour and half bus ride from the nearest outstanding school (and that was after a 30 min) bus ride to the largest town - it was shit - really shit. Kids bloody hated it. We now live in a town in the south west 10 min bus drive from the nearest city and the kids have a 45 min walk to school and they bloody love it - they have hobbies and clubs - so don’t live in the middle of now where / your kids won’t thank you

I can highly recommend the moving to a rural village part, but I can't say being a primary teacher will be part of that dream. Be prepared for a frosty welcome to a small village

We live in a small village in the NE. There is a pub and a local shop which is open only in the mornings.

However within 30 min drive we have a town with a hospital, a number of schools and many local businesses.

We are also only 40 minutes from Newcastle.

I grew up in a city but would really not like to live in one again. I love visiting family who still live there but am always very glad to be back home.

We live on the edge of a National Park and have some of the darkest skies in Europe so nighttime can be amazing.

It all depends what you really want as opposed to an imaginary rural idyll.

Downsides are having to drive everywhere which can sometimes be a bit dodgy in winter and obviously having to ferry kids around (and no takeaway delivery!)

My 16 year old nephew was horrified when he came to visit and his horror was confirmed when he could only get 3G on his phone!!

I

@Gwenhwyfar - 15 minutes drive from Durham gets you past Chester-le-Street and practically in Washington, and another 15 minutes brings you to Newcastle.

The other way is Newton Aycliffe and Darlington. Or West/East you might get to Wolsingham or Peterlee.

So unless County Durham is entirely urban...

My advice is to properly do your research. Work out where you could live that fits your lifestyle, see if the transport links work, if it works for teens too, how much a move would cost etc.

Then have a think.
This means that if you don't do it you won't regret not doing it either. - Because you'll have don't your research.
There are plenty of villages with good transport links, a town nearby, and a great lifestyle to be had. If you get a teaching qualification and then get a job you can rent in that area and decide if you like it (my DF moved us a couple of times this way).
Find your ideal village and work out from that!

We have moved to a village from a central city. I worked from the train routes and how far I wanted to live from the sea and searched my 'golden triangle' of villages. Found one just the right distance and it's great so far; London is less than an hour and the seaside is 30 minutes. The school bus goes from the end of the road (takes 15 mins) and the train station is 6 minutes away.... My kids were taking a train and a bus an 1.5 hours across town before we moved.

I’m semi rural OP - whilst it was lovely with pre school and primary school children - with both of mine at secondary I’m now mum taxi . I still love where we live and as young teens the kids still appreciate it but I’m sure it’s going to be hard work for a few years until fingers crossed they head off to university . It just about works for us as a larger village is 20 mins walk away and school only a couple of miles all be it not safely walkable . In my dreams I’d be rural but I’d not recommend it .

Op, we did something similar a few years back, had a toddler and a baby and was sick of busy city life, so we uprooted to the outskirts of the cotswolds and have never looked back. Admittedly we aren't "remote" in the sense of no neighbours, or shops for miles (wouldn't have wanted that), but we relocated to a little rural market town in the countryside, and absolutely adore it. I think making sure you are still commutable is key incase circumstances change... We are surrounded by fields, farms and rivers, but can be on the M5 into Bristol/Gloucester within 15 mins... We even have a train station, which the teens around here use to pop in and out of the cities, and was a key factor in deciding to move here, as I know our DC will one day get bored of the countryside and having that option for them is key. The sense of community here is fantastic, and I've made more genuine close friends here in 3 years than I did in the 30+ I lived in Bristol. If you're fed up of the life style city living is creating, make a change!

We recently moved from a market town to a village and wake up every day thinking how lucky we are. BUT…the village has a ship, 2 pubs, doctors and high school so not exactly in the middle of nowhere. We did look at some with gorgeous views but the only amenity was a pub-am not ready for that. Our village is 10 minutes away from fantastic walks and hills so we can get up really early and walk somewhere beautiful before breakfast-that means a lot to us. We also commute to our jobs in nearby cities so we had to be practical when we chose where to live. If your husband is fully on board-make a list of your ideal, and what you’d compromise on. Think about all the practicalities of your plans. With children, as they grow older, public transport options are a godsend, so I would discount villages with no decent bus or train station. Our village has a little station and is about 6 miles from a nice city so local kids can socialise very easily. We think we have the best of both worlds here and although our town was very pleasant, would never go back.
Also, I retrained in my 40s for a completely new career, so it is possible. You only have one life so if it’s doable and you and your husband are a good team, give it a try. The worst is that you’d discover it’s not for you-at least you’d know rather than getting to 65 and realising it’s too late to change.

I reckon kids up to around 12/13 enjoy rural living, then between 13-18 it's a nightmare, then when they can drive, it becomes ok again.

Get ready to be dependent on your car!
But yes, by all means change your life if you're not happy.

Is there work you could do on a self employed basis?

Gosh this thread is depressing!!
So many people keen to piss on Op's chips!
Ok so your dream is quite whimsical at the moment, but dreaming's not a bad thing.
What I'd suggest is you sit down and make a practical list of what you want in your life. What's essential and what would be nice.
Eg is it important to have finished work at a certain time every night?
Do you want a house with a big garden? Or country walks on your doorstep?
What sort of "community"? What are you interested in?
What lifestyle do you want for your children?
And so on....
When you can see in black and white what it is that you actually want then you can look at jobs and locations that will help you achieve that.
Good luck op

I don't know about the teaching element, but we moved from a major city to a small rural village over 20 years ago and it has been everything we hoped for and more. I had a fairly portable job and found one in the nearest small town (public sector) and DH eventually managed to persuade his then employer that this new fangled internet thing meant that he could probably do a lot of his job from home - that bit should be easier nowadays at least!
We have never felt unwelcome and have got a good mix of friends ranging from those whose families have lived here for centuries to those who have moved from the other side of the world. Our children have never been short of things to do or resented living here. You do have to be prepared to make more effort to take them places of course as there is no public transport, but it's often possible to share with other families. Whilst it might be more difficult to do some things than in a city, on the other hand my children do activities every week that many others only get the chance to try on their holidays- unless their parents are willing to drive them long distances regularly of course.Swings and roundabouts.
There are disadvantages of course and it wouldn't suit everyone but the countryside isn't the social and cultural wasteland many people think it is. Plenty of people are very happy.
Any major change is a risk. Do your homework on where you'd like to move and keep your options open. We rented at first, just in case we decided we'd made a hideous mistake, plus it gave us time to really get the feel of where precisely we wanted to live. The village we eventually settled on wasn't even on our radar when we were driving up at the weekends to look around, but once we were living here we got a better feel for things.
I could imagine suitable teaching jobs might be hard to come by. If the schools my children have been to are typical, there isn't much staff turnover and the number of applicants can be high when jobs do come up. But especially with WFH becoming much commoner now there must be other options.
If it's something that both you and your DH are keen to try, then why not? Be realistic, look very carefully at your options and visit your proposed new home at different times of year and in a variety of weathers if you can - its not like being on holiday all the time. But it is do-able. Lots of people make such moves successfully. It doesn't work out for everyone of course, but plenty of us make the change very happily.

@houselikeashed

I reckon kids up to around 12/13 enjoy rural living, then between 13-18 it's a nightmare, then when they can drive, it becomes ok again. Get ready to be dependent on your car! But yes, by all means change your life if you're not happy. Is there work you could do on a self employed basis?

It really depends on the location.

A friend of mine relocated to Devon, she's very near a cathedral town with uni, hospitals, shops etc.

Now her kids are teens they're fine as they can easily get into the town to meet their friends.

Have also considered training as a OH

What is an OH?

It’s irrelevant what it is, tbh, do that rather than teaching

As someone who thought that's what I wanted, and did it, I have to ask - are you sure?

I trained as a primary teacher and moved from the city back to where I was from (a rural village) and taught there for a while. It wasn't for me, and that's putting it nicely. I saw so little of my child that I decided to leave teaching altogether. There were many other reasons too.

And is there going to be work for your DH in this rural village? While I was teaching, my DH couldn't find a job and ended up being a stay at home dad for a while. Which was ok, but we really couldn't afford to live on one wage.

We've since moved back to a more urban area, I'm no longer a teacher, and we're much happier. DH has a job, I'm self employed and make a lot more than I ever did teaching, and the kids are happy not to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

I reckon kids up to around 12/13 enjoy rural living, then between 13-18 it's a nightmare, then when they can drive, it becomes ok again.

I really think it's down to personality more than age.

If your kids are happy to spend their weekends horse-riding, biking, fishing, surfing etc. and their friends are similar, they'll be happy, but if they prefer shopping, movies, bowling etc. then they'll struggle regardless of how old they are.

I grew up in London suburbia. Married and moved fither into London then moved out. DH had (and still has) dreams of living rurally. Our compromise is a small town that is close to countryside (as in we can be on a footpath in a field in about 10-15 min walk)
There is a train station and not many useful shops/supermarkets, schools including secondary, gym, sports centre, drs, dentists, etc all within walking distance. DD is a teen now and can walk to (most of) her friends houses, or get the train with them to more interesting (for teens) towns, or go in to London.
I wouldn't like to live rurally or in a village because I personally would feel isolated and not want to rely on a car. But obviously plenty of people do like it! One of my friends was desperate to move to a village even when she didn't drive.

I live in a city but it's a small very low crime city with loads of parks and countryside near by .. maybe that would be better for you ? PM me if your interested to know where it is significantly cheaper than London , I had dreams of living in the countryside but I'm so happy we didn't as we now have preteens and there is loads to do locally and is a short train ride to a major city too .. x

'Rural schools tend to see extremes in wealth - our village is very affluent but our catchment is wide. There are more social problems than you might expect.'

Exactly this. My most challenging child has been to every other school within 10 miles. Two years ago, another in the 'Last Chance Saloon' came from a different county.

What about Northamptonshire or Warwickshire? Rural but not bleak, easy access to stuff, house prices ok. Or even Leicestershire. You could always get a wfh job and do community volunteering?