Downsides of rural living?

[Staffielove23]

Another thread in AIBU got me thinking about the downsides of rural living. Dependence of a car, farm smells and traffic.. anyone else?

Love my car and don't mind being car dependent. Plenty of nice walks if you want to go for a walk.

The mud and potholes are annoying. I was in London just before Christmas and just marvelled at the lovely clean shoes everyone had.

Noise, my DPs house in a very rural village is far noisier with traffic than my house in a city. Tractors and heavy loads of farm machinery grumbling past all the time.

No deliveroo or takeaways.

Local grudges will last a century and you will get judged based on the people who lived in your house 40 years ago.

I was bought up in a very rural village in a highly desirable part of the country and HATED IT. I remember being so bored and felt left out constantly as a teen. Bus service was rubbish, taxis cost a fortune. I ended up walking home along across fields or staying with random friends after nights out which wasn’t very safe. I hated the isolation when roads too snowy/icy, hated the small town mentality where everyone knew everyone.
I go back now and see as an adult why my parents lived there- it looks idyllic and my small kids love it. But it’s painfully boring for teenagers.
I promised myself I’d live in a big city as soon as I turned 18 and I have! Now live in a nice suburb and absolutely love it. I still get a thrill jumping on the tram into town or pottering down the road to a trendy bar or for lunch with the kids. I will never not appreciate it! However I miss the quiet, lack of litter and those sunny days with a big countryside garden. Swings and roundabouts!

Those people who go on Escape to the Country need to have this thread as compulsory reading first!

I was thinking more that you would rely on cats to go out and 'shop' for food , ie hunt mice , birds , voles , worms etc
My old cat would hunt for leaves so I'd be buggered !

The people. Lived in my village for more than 30 years and the people here used to be mostly farming families and fairly regular people, now its full of wankers who think they're the fucking aristocracy or something, driving around in their range rovers in their flat caps and tweed gilets with their stupid fucking designer dogs, always complaining about something. The next street over is a private residents only cul-de-sac and man do they think that makes them something special! We've got Wanker Bucket Hat Man out there strimming the grass EVERY day and staring creepily at anyone who walks past and the weirdo trying to lure kids over to "see her dog" when she thinks no parents are nearby or listening and then threw a strop when it turned out I was and threatened to report our streets kids to the council for playing near her house!

Cows can be terrifying. You are right to not walk in a field of cows. We own cows and would never walk through a field of cows. When tending to our own cows we are never in the field without a vehicle.
I think some people don’t realise the danger.

I've remembered 2 downsides: idiots who don't train their dogs and let them run off the lead through fields with livestock in.
Also people coming to walk in the village who leave field gates open and feed horses!

I love living rurally and I will miss it in the future when I'm older and move closer to a city or town for health, care worries. however it does have some downsides.
As above lack of healthcare options, I've had to go on a 4+hour round trip for a 20 min hospital appointment in Inverness before and dh had to go even further for a one in Aberdeen. Drink/drug problems. Lack of public transport and very limited job wise.
The faff/expense of not being gas grid connected, my lpg bottles for my stove always run out when it's raining, dark and miserable, it's like they sense it, never on a sunny morning.

not RTFT (and also not in UK) but for me it is the lack of any public transport after 6pm on a friday to 6am on a Monday. Not that 5 buses a day is phenomenally helpful at any time.

Really awful-to none mobile phone reception. Really really bad (in the old days of TAN by SMS for internet banking i used to have to run down the road to get it, then run back to enter it before it expired)

Really having to make sure you buy all the shopping you need because you can't just pop out to get that thing you forgot.

It is all outweighed by the good things.

Rural living definitely isn’t for everyone, I lived in a city for over a decade and once I had DC I wasn’t really taking advantage of all a city has to offer. The city was never home.
Biggest downside for me is having to drive kids everywhere. It would be great if my teen had more independence but there are drawbacks no matter where you live.

Dawdling along behind livestock being moved to another field.

Thank you. My husband thinks I'm being pathetic for not walking through a field of cows, but I knew I was right!

I actually really like this. I think it's one of the privileges of country life!

One time the farmer was moving his cows through the main street of our village and got a bunch of us to stand in front of all the turnings along the route waving our arms to stop them from making a turn into someone's road or drive! It was quite a sight watching them run through the village.

Broadband

No mobile signal, no shops, schools or pubs, I know everyone, I am safe to walk anywhere - even midnight walks. I can knock on any door if in trouble. No takeaway hot food deliveries (don't care because I cook food), Lovely people who will help each other out, gorgeous scenery, the dawn chorus, deer and hares in the garden, the stars. I walk to the nearest village (5 miles) someone always stops to pick me up - yesterday it was a tractor. I lived in cities for 20 years and would never willingly do it again. It's about services and entertainment being laid on for you - do you need and want it or not? Most people do. Do you love wildlife and nature and do you notice it? Most people don't. Those people are happiest in cities.

Dependence on the car the main thing. It can be quite lonely. If a bad snow storm came you are basically screwed. Farm smells (only in summer when a load of washing out) Teenagers find it isolating and you will spend a lot more time ferrying kids around. Just eat/deliveroo don’t go out there.

But I grew up in the countryside. I’ve lived in a town now for 2 years and I hate it. I miss the quiet. I miss having a decent sized garden. I miss fresh air on a sunny day wafting in through the open windows. I miss being able to sit out in the back garden with a cuppa in my horrible pj shorts in the summer without the neighbours seeing me. I also miss not being able to hear my neighbours argue. I’d like to feed birds too but not advised in a town as it attracts vermin.

There’s a lot of benefits to living in a town or city but for me the countryside is in my heart and I miss it so much it hurts. But we are here for the next 5-10 years so I make the most of it! And I quite like our house. But I’m an introvert so isolation is a dream to me.

My dream home is the one from The Snowman.

When everyone was moving to the countryside over Covid, there were lots of articles going round about how people missed takeaways, Uber, etc…. Personally I have no self-control and spend WAY too much on both in London (and never really enjoy it or feel good about it). I’m between the city and countryside at the moment and in a weird way, when I get out of the city it’s a huge relief not to have access to expensive calories and rides on demand! Totally get how it’s frustrating for others but I need someone to take these things away from me…

Boredom
Having to drive EVERYWHERE
Lack of diversity
Crap phone reception
Isolation
Can't stand it an a city girl through and through

Dear me, we moved from a once rural, now spoilt place, to a lovely village in the SE. Quiet, no light pollution, can hear the birds singing when I walk the dog. Nice pub with good food, fantastic village shop, another pub within walking distance, but rather touristy. No takeaways unless you collect, so less rubbish thrown everywhere. Buses for school children but few during the rest of the day, as nearly everyone has a car or two. My horse lives in a fabulous yard 15 mins away. What’s not to like, I would hate to live in London plus we don’t have £millions for a house.

Used to drive my mother mad, she wasn't the most patient person.

We once nearly mowed down a sheep on a very dark Dartmoor road.

Farmers. Some of them. Sorry I know I am generalising.
Old fashioned views. Even from the younger part of the community.

People burning plastic because they think that's what you're meant to do with it.

Like it mostly but these things really piss me off.

People burning plastic because they think that's what you're meant to do with it.

I'd forgotten about that one. Yes, the bonfires of various man-made horrors. Awful, awful, awful.

Risk of genetic mutation in remoter issue. This is a phenomena of certain regions such as the Forest of Dean, mid-Norfolk and the Somerset Levels due to in-breeding risks.