Do most people have to drive to get most places?

[Rosebudwater]

Odd question, but where do you live and how much do you drive to stuff? I live in North West England, smallish town. Everything feels like its a drive away (particularly as I have two young kids), or otherwise a bit of a mission to walk there. Could get to nearest shops /park with around a 25 min walk. All other amenities are a definite drive. It all feels a lot of hassle to do anything and on weekends like this, we've basically stayed in and got moth eaten.
Outside of London, is this fairly normal? I want to move, to feel a bit more connected with an area, and I think it will help to not bloody drive everywhere. But on the whole, is this unrealistic, unless you live in the middle of a city? Please tell me about where you live!

Also I should add, we're not by any means 'rural'. Just suburban

Small to medium town just outside a big city in South Wales. We walk everywhere, but we deliberately bought a house in the town where everything is 10 mins away - shops, GP, park, post office, seafront. However we do drive to do the big weekly shop and we blew it on the school run by choosing one out of area. For work we used to commute by train and bike. It’s pretty good.
The difference to me is that we’re actually in the town rather than in a village further out.

We are located in a big city.
No neee to drive. We can walk to most things. We have library, shops, GP, hospital, schools, nuseries, leisure centre, parks, playgrounds, the beach and all kind of entertainment.
We have lots of trains, buses and metro. And bike lanes.
We chose this. And love it.

North east.

2 mins from Morrisons / B&M which are both on thriving high street.

90 secs from one park.
3 mins from another.

There’s a reason we decided to move here!

Small north west based area - everything is a drive here too! Otherwise long walks on roads without paths mostly. To walk to work for example id need to walk through two villages, along a national speed limit country road with no paths and into a town. Definitely not doable!

I can get to a small shop by walking, but not one I could do a weekly shop at. Beauty place would be a 2.5hr walk + according to Google, again down National speed limit country roads with no path.

When I lived in a city centre I didn't feel more connected to anything really, although the amazing food places being on my doorstep was fab and sometimes I miss the choice in amenities.

I'm near you and in a town where I can walk most places, plus good train links - one of the reasons we settled here.

I live in a small market town in Worcs and I can walk everywhere in 15 minutes - doctor, dentist, swimming pool, coffee shops etc. 15 minutes in the other direction and I'm in ancient woodland. Its what I love about this place even if theres no Uber, Deliveroo or Just Eat

We live in a rural hamlet and it's 2 miles to the closest shop, 1 mile to a pub and I love it. Never get any trick or treaters, properties have large gardens / land so neighbours are far enough away

I drive to work / sport etc and I love the peaceful rural setting

I live in a big city. Park a couple of minutes walk away,plenty of shops a 10 minute walk. Buses into town every 8 minutes. Midlands.

I can’t drive for medical reasons, although DH can. We’re in a large village in the SE with fab amenities - we’ve got a small supermarket, pharmacy, hairdresser, post office, charity shop, coffee shop, all sorts within walking distance. Public transport is excellent - there are buses to/from the nearest city until after midnight on weekdays and even later on Saturdays, and also good buses to a nearby large town.

We spent a year living somewhere where the only things in walking distance were a Tesco Express and a Boots. It was a 15-minute drive or 30-minute bus ride (as it went on a very circuitous route) to anything else and it drove me completely mad.

The situation you describe would also drive me mad. And I’d not want to be totally reliant on driving as you never know when your health might change.

Suburban location

Drive everywhere

Doesnt bother me though I’d rather get in the car and drive somewhere than just stay stuck indoors

I live close to the centre of a small city, and walk and cycle everywhere.

Small Market Town. I can walk to shops, library, railway station, doctors pharmacy, schools, supermarket, and up a canal into wildlife reserve.

Where did I say that? I was responding to the OP.

I like walking, but as it goes I can’t actually walk far any more due to heatlth problems.

East of England and technically in a largish town.
I have to drive most places. I can get to the corner shop and my nearest supermarket on foot but they're far enough away that doing a big shop would be tricky.
Have to drive to get to work - would need to walk for an hour just to be able to get a bus there. There is also a train station, but again, about an hour away walking.

Small town in north Nottinghamshire

I can walk to friends' houses, shops, pubs, church, train/tram stop, beautiful countryside

Public transport - I can be in the city in under 20 minutes

We mostly drive to country parks or relatives' houses, but less than 6k miles a year

Tiny park and pub within easy walk. Nearest small shop probably a 45 minute walk ( and hour to get back cos it’s uphill). Aldi probably an hours walk (again uphill back). ASDA probably 90 minutes walk…..so yes, we drive most places.

We can walk to everything. We are in a market town in north Gloucestershire. The high street is 3 streets away and is very functional still, with butchers, greengrocer, lots of pubs and cafes, take away and eat in restaurants, there is an independent cinema/theatre and it's a historic town, it's attractive. But we also have fields at the end of our road. When they're not flooded!!! It's a good place but we are a bit twitchy to move. I would like more wildlife and the secondary school is not good. The convenience is one reason we don't move. I think it will be good when the kids are teenagers.

Where do you live @CMOTDibbler it sounds nice with the woods! DM me if you want.

NW England. We can walk to GP, library, post office, small shop. We drive everywhere else. Buses are every 90mins ish and go all round the houses to get to any of the nearest towns.

I'm dependent on walking and public transport, and have been most of my life.

So whenever I've moved having access to fairly local amenities, either on foot or public transport, has always been the first consideration when chosing a place to live.
So although some rural or small town locations look really beautiful and appealing to me I've always gone for the practical option.
I'm currently in a seaside town which has beautiful scenery, adequate shops, doctors, dentists,schools etc, and access to train and bus services - the buses are less than ideal but adequate. And there is a big city fairly close by.

Tbh I'd feel really worried if I lived somewhere that necessitated using a car.The thought iof not being able to drive through illness, health issues, old age or car problems would seriously detract from my quality of live because I'm a stressor and worrier..

Ireland here. Nearest shop (like a spar) is 15 min walk. Nearest pub is 18 min walk (yes it's been timed lol). Nearest nice butchers/ florists / coffee shops / restaurants / boutiques are about 20 min walk. Nearest museum is a 25-30 min walk. Nearest park around 10 min walk (and we have beautiful walks around 15-20 min away).

We are very lucky. We also have ok(ish) public transport.

Rural, isolated, live in the middle of fields. At a push we could walk down into the village a couple of miles away to catch a bus. Wouldn't fancy walking back with a load of shopping though.
In reality, we drive everywhere.

It's a bit of a privilege to be able to walk everywhere.

Means you can afford to live somewhere that's walking distance from amenities, have the time to do it and also are physically able.

Lose any of those and it makes it far more difficult to do.

Realistically within a half hour walk we have a Co-op, doctors and pharmacy, a couple of shit pubs, launderette, takeaway and fish and chip shop and a couple of convenience stores. We're also on the edge of greenbelt so reasonable walking country from the doorstep. So adequate, but not sufficient for all the amenities we want and need day to day.

These are all 10-15 minutes away. There is a retail park and a decent sized town about 45 mins walk away, which obviously means it takes 90 mins to walk there and back, so just isn't realistic for most people. I do walk on occasion but have to limit what I can carry back, although if I had to do it, I'd get a shopping trolley or use taxis.

So we generally drive and as we have a car, it's then used to provide access to everything that's available in 30-60 mins drive so everything from city to countryside etc.