Pros and cons of living in the countryside

[oodlesArt]

In a few days I will be moving into my new (rented) property. I've always lived in town houses but this one is deep in the countryside. I'd love to hear of other peoples experiences of living in the countryside, good or bad. I thought this was a good ideas but now having a few doubts. Our house will be right next to a field which I'm assuming will make my hayfever 10x worse but you live and learn!

The shock for us is its really dark at night due to less light pollution. The countryside can be quite noisy with farm machinery and animals making noise. The nature is amazing, you will see things regularly, barn owls, stoats, deer etc.

But:
Mud, driving everywhere for everything, more mud.

No shop or pub in walking distance and rubbish public transport. However we're surrounded by fields with sheep and horses, it's peaceful at night.

I live very rurally and I genuinely can’t think of any cons. I spose you have to drive everywhere (apart from when we walk the dog), but aside from that I can’t think of many. I was walking with my 5 year old in a fairly suburban street the other day, he was hopping off and on the kerb, it made me wonder if he wasn’t very savvy when it came to road safety as we just don’t walk along busy roads and we just don’t have a hectic commute, it’s all country lanes. But moving here was the best thing we ever did.

The major disadvantage is having to use the car all the time (except when actually going for a walk!). Apart from that I'm a convert! (I grew up in London.)

Love living in the countryside. It was a shock at first thought in terms of isolation. I really missed the thousands of tiny human interactions I’d had in the city. Have adapted now though (helped by the fact we moved from a very isolated house to one in a small village). I would advise to Make an effort to do lots of things with local people, community events etc to make connections in the area. Go round to your neighbours to say hello.

No I love the countryside. With regard to your hayfever my DH suffered terribly until we moved to the countryside! For the first few weeks he was bad and then it was if he built immune to it. So much better now and I am thinking it wasn’t hayfever but maybe pollution . Good luck

I live fairly rurally.

The downsides are :

It can get pretty smelly with muckspreading.

You can get some minor problems with kids/teenagers, mainly because they don't have enough to do with their time.

It can get cliquey because a lot of people know each other, especially if it is an older "naicer" village - a lot of the occupants may be interested in maintaining their lifestyle and feel threatened by anyone who is different.

What people feel they are entitled to is often about how long they have been around, as opposed to what they are entitled to in law. Eg parking.

You really need a car.

There can be power cuts. In fact a lot more often than I have experienced living in cities. which is not great for computers or electrical appliances in general. Utilities like broadband and gas and mobile coverage can be patchy and non existent.

You can get cut off in the snow (maybe not so bad).

If you want emergency services, response times can be even worse than in cities.

It's so noisy. Which I totally didn't expect! Sheep bleating, birds tweeting/crowing/cuckooing etc/farmers farming and so on. Obviously it's nicer noise than traffic but I struggle to have my windows open during the night. Minor roads aren't gritted in winter and your car will be eternally muddy.

But it's peaceful, lovely views, you go outside more, feels good for the soul.

Oh yes and the bloody pigeons.

I don’t live on the village, but in the small town in the semi-rural area. Pros: peaceful, very safe, strong community spirit, friendly neighbours, fresh air, nice walks. Cons: car is a necessity for every adult family member, horrible public transport or lack of it, the nearest supermarket ten miles away, no petrol station within 8 miles, everyone knows everyone ( it doesn’t bother me too much, but sometimes is overwhelming). Job opportunities are very, very limited, the nearest big city 30 miles away. Expensive local small shops and property prices.

City - anonymous but you can always find people you have something in common with.
Country - you have to get on with the local community and they all know your business. (not necessarily a bad thing). Try and join in with something to get to know people. Or you will just be known as "that person with the blue BMW who rented old Mavis cottage and never talks to anyone". Unless you have some visible job like working in the primary school or shop!

You need transport even going for a walk can be a challenge depending on the road and local driving .It can be smelly and animals do.make a load of noise.
Keep a source of heating and lights and spare food water in case of weather issues. Can be lonely
Pros peace quiet space fresh air
Good community feel
Enjoy

Cons you have to drive a lot of places and when you walk you have to be careful due to lack of paths. Nighttime can be very very dark but that’s a pro too- the stars are AMAZING!!! I found it difficult to get into country living op but now when I go to big cities it’s all push, run, craziness. You can breathe in the countryside, sit out with your tea in the garden and enjoy listening to the birds!!

It can be a long schlep if you want a paper or milk.

Depends on where you live but it canb be a long way to a decent main road/railway and thats before you start heading for wherever

I moved into a rural location 9 months ago. It was long planned, moving from city to town to village in the previous 15 years. My observations are

• lack of petrol stations mean I am constantly thinking about how much fuel I have and where I might get a top up

• as the above but for cashpoints!

• everything is 'about 20 mins' away, but only if its midnight. Any rush hour, school run, event in the area means journeys can double in length. There is no 'popping' anywhere

• supermarket choice is very, very limited. Even the nearest towns are small supermarkets. I've had to resort to 'big shops' on a monthly basis (nearest city is 45 mins away) & bought an extra freezer to accommodate!

• we live on a semi-touristy area and so don't travel on a Friday (changeover days for weekends) or when there is an event (marathons, dog shows, country shows) or good weather!

And like other PP's public transport doesn't exist, cars essential for every adult, friends for kids are hard to maintain independently, jobs for teenagers/college kids are extremely limited and all the young adults leave as soon as humanly possible.

I love it though. The quiet at night, bird song all day long, absolutely darkness, clear skies, seeing/hearing the weather come in, no neighbours/hot tubs/barking dogs etc. All of it is perfect

Never a day goes by when I don't use the car

I grew up on the edge of a very little village.

Pros: Nice walks, it's pretty, the flora and fauna.

Cons: Complete car dependency (this is the main reason I would never live rurally myself). If you have children they have severely limited freedom once they get past young primary age because almost everywhere they want to go, even just round a friend's house, they need a lift. It's horrible to be a teenager in a village with shit bus service. If you have hay-fever, as I also do, it's hell in the summer and you need to take antihistamines regularly.

I live rurally and for me there are no cons but generically I eould say:
Pros: -community feel so you always have someone looking out for you/your DC

• lack of light pollution
• being able to walk through the village at midnight on my own
• DD 12 able to be out on her own
• close friendships made at primary school
• village events eg fair/allotment show etc
• peace
• abundance of wildlife: owls, deer, song birds, birds of prey
• lovely walk straight from front door
• little or no anti social behaviour/crime
• keep my horse close by
• amazing state primary school

Cons: - no public transport

• taxi driver to teens
• no shop
• power cuts
• poor state secondary schools

Hay-fever- bulk buy antihistamine online, take it every day regardless of symptoms and if that doesn't work upgrade to fexofenadine.

TBH my main issues come from a tree in my garden and that could happen in a town.

The isolation, especially if you don't have good public transport or drive. Get an extra freezer in so if the weather is bad you will have some food in. Advantages..... the peace and quiet and lots of wildlife

I've lived in the middle of nowhere in the countryside, cities and am now on the edge of a town.

Pros of rural living:

Peace and quiet. There can still be noise but nothing like living in a city or town.

Close access to nature and often beautiful walks from your doorstep.

Fewer neighbours to deal with.

Less pollution (including light pollution..... I agree it's very dark at night without streetlights!) Much better for stargazing

Cons:

Further to go for amenities. It was a hassle always having to drive if I wanted to leave my house just to go to a shop.

If in a village, they can be gossipy and cliquey.

Phone signal often a PITA.

Absolute nightmare for teenagers, they're reliant on you to be their taxi driver and there's a lack of local jobs for them. Then they leave home and bugger off to the city 🤣

No cons. It's glorious.
DS's gf claims the birds sing louder and an ex bf of mine hated the smell. Give me good old fashioned muck spreading over pollution any day!

Village politics can be complicated. On the plus side, you can get community events.
But its the organisation behind these that can get complex. In the past few weeks my role as assistant Cub leader has led to involvement in planning for four upcoming community events... the village fair, two primary school fairs and DDay. The tentacles are wide...

No public transport is fine until one of you has a disability and can't drive. That person is then bored quickly and the other gets fed up.

Moved to a rural area 18 years ago from London. I can't think of many cons, so will list those first:

Definitely agree with PPs about mud. This is probably uppermost in my mind because of all the rain we had earlier this year!

Also agree with PPs about distance from big towns &/or cities meaning you have to allow a whole precious day off to go there. There is a lack of choice in local shops. I don't mind paying more though, because the quality is good (especially locally produced foodstuffs) & I haven't had to use fuel to go & buy it. Our local Post Office has recently closed down & I now have to travel 25 miles to my bank.

My area has a dearth of exercise classes, at least on the days I could attend one. Shift work doesn't help with this, but it's not like there's 3 large gyms with a panoply of classes to choose from just a stone's throw away (which there was in London, even 20 years ago).

Pros:
The space, the beautiful countryside, the views, the wildlife, the farm animals, gorgeous country walks, birdsong, stars at night, amazing sunsets, beaches a short drive away.

Lack of traffic & traffic jams. Always being able to find a parking space & free parking.

Friends from a wider demographic: older, younger, incomers, locals. In London my friends were more likely to be my age & have children the same age as mine.

The schools here are better as they are more genuinely comprehensive. In London parents would move to get into catchment areas of favoured schools and some secondary schools took a % who'd passed an entrance exam. That doesn't happen here.

Peace, I find it much more peaceful here.

I did take DCs here there & everywhere (apart from school, there were free school buses for that), but once DC1 had passed his driving test, he could help out, then DC2 - there were 2 to help out with lifts & so on. DC3 got a moped at 16, which also helped.