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!

We're on the outskirts of a NW coastal town.

It's about 15 minutes walk to the GP, 10 to the nearest post office / convenience store, just under 20 to Tesco, and about 25 to Aldi and Sainsbury's (as well as B&Q, Home Bargains, Halfords, Curry's, Pure Gym and Hobbycraft).

We have a nearby Hickory's, then a pub just beyond Tesco.

In another direction is another Aldi and a Tesco Express, about 20-ish minutes away.

Another direction again has bars and coffee shops, a Sainsbury's Local and Spar, and a whole range of independent shops. That's about 25-30 minutes.

We walked about 40 minutes to go out for lunch yesterday as we wanted a drink.

There are bus stops nearby, but we don't use the bus, but you can get about easily from here if you don't want to walk.

If I drive it's for convenience (either time restraints or amount I'm getting) in the main. I don't mind a fair bit of walking.

Oh, and we'd drive to the GP or dentist.

I have a parade of shops with a Tesco one end and a Coop the other with the doctors, pharmacy, hair salon , beauty salon , opticians and a good number of cafes and restaurants in between and it's within a three minute walk of my house.

I'm also 20 mins walk from my town's main high street and 20 mins in the opposite direction is a different town's high street. The station is a 10 min walk away and it's a 7 min train ride to our city centre and 45 mins to central London. It's also a ten minute walk to a beach.

We bought our house here precisely because it was so easy to walk to everything. Our previous house had absolutely nothing within walking distance and the bus service was terrible so it drove me mad being so reliant on a car.

Live on the coast outside of Newcastle.

We both have to drive to work.

Apart from that:
3 DC who can walk to school in 10 mins- up to 3 children under 11 travel free with an adult.
Village/very small town with shops is 3 minute walk to main street
Metro station 2 minutes walk - trains around NE, including Newcastle- Newcastle would be about 25 minutes on Metro.
Miles of beaches 10 mins walk away
Swimming pool, about 15 minutes walk.
GP about 2 mins walk
NHS dentist 3 mins walk.
Shop locally and walk to shops- food, books, chemists , hairdressers, clothes etc but not big shops.
PIL live 5-10 minute walk away
Lots of lovely long walks countryside and coast from our house
DC cycle
DH walks to his football
Park with tennis courts and running track and children's things 3 mins away
Lots of local activities
Nice places to eat within walking distance
Rarely use cars locally.

I walk to most places.

Can walk the kids to school, or to the pub. Everywhere else requires a car.

Small village in midlands.

If I was able bodied, I would be able to walk to work and my PIL. I can walk to both kids schools, 2 supermarkets, the town centre, my parents and my nans, dr surgery and pharmacy, dentist and A&E.

I don't drive.

I'm semi rural and have to drive everywhere as there's no public transport and no shops / facilities walking distance .

We're in a city in Scotland. Lots of parks, shops, cafes, libraries etc in walking distance. Drive to work but otherwise walk most places and love it. However, we're house hunting in the suburbs and when we move it will be much more like you describe in your OP. I'm ready for more space and a garden for the kids but I will miss my city lifestyle!

I probably wouldn't consider living somewhere that I couldn't walk to the shops etc. I did live in an area with only a corner shop within walking distance for about a year and I hated it. I do think it's very common though, judging from my own house searches.

What do people mean by semi rural?

Semi rural here (village a few miles from nearby town). Within 30 mins walk is the village church, a pub and a small play area. Nearest shop is a 50 minute dangerous walk (60mph with no pavement or lights) or a short drive. I'm guessing it would take me about 1.5 hours to walk to the centre of town or to the train station, but I actually can't manage walking that far. We do have an hourly bus for most of the day, but it isn't consistent or reliable so we drive everywhere.

We moved from London and knew we didn't want to live in suburbia. We deliberately chose an area that has its own shops, bars, restaurants, library etc and the main town and train station are 15-20 minutes walk. My worst nightmare would be living in a house where I had to drive everywhere - lots of rural houses don't even have pavements so you couldn't even go for a walk or to get a pint of milk

I'm in a village in the northwest, the new builds spreading out from the city are not far away. We lost our village shop and post office a few years ago, pub has become a bit rough so we don't go there, nearest shop is a co-op 3 km away - I sometimes walk there if I just want something not too heavy to carry. There's a nice farm shop that might be closer but there's no footpath to it and the road wouldn't be great to walk along.

So yes, have to drive everywhere. I'm just about to retire, we may think about moving in a few years to a town where there are shops and things going on within walking distance.

I take an ikea bag to the supermarket and walk back. Keeps me active on non-gym days.

Large village 8m from town.

Walking distance: pubs x2, Dr, dentist, pharmacist, primary school, high school, 2x shops, bakery, butcher, library, Chinese takeaway.

Nus to town every couple of hours gives supermarkets, theatre (matinees, last bus is 6), museum, pool etc.

Pizza and curry takeaways are a drive. (Or a 15-20 min bike ride on back roads).

We've realized we know it's the Christmas holiday because we're not working now and don't plan to get in the car until we visit the inlaws for new year.

Village in Lancashire, I walk or bus/train everywhere

Rural setting of a few houses together, we have to drive to get to most places. In the suburbs there was a lot more in a walkable distance. In the city I loved that we could walk everywhere!

We are rural. Could get to the pub on foot but nowhere else. No pavements so wouldn’t be safe to walk it after dark. Miles from the nearest bus stop, so a car is a necessity.

I live in Gloucestershire in a average sized town. We walk most places but the road we live on leads to the town centre, it's a fairly long road but less than 10 minute walk. There's a pub across the road and lots of bars, cafes etc in town, supermarket 15 min walk but cornershop next to the pub and a post office in there. If we lived further out we'd have to drive/bus but we specifically chose to live where we do as it's nice to be able to just pop into town on a whim.

SW here. Semi rural and very close to lots of beautiful countryside. Nothing within reasonable walking distance - and almost no footpaths, so not safe anyway.

There's quite a bit within a short drive, though. 7 min drive to a train station, same to a small Co Op and small pharmacy, 10 min to small post office, 15 min to small town with big Tesco/WHSmith/bakeries etc, about the same to different small town with sod all but an excellent large doctors surgery, 25 min drive to big towns with banks or decent shops. 30 mins drive to Dartmoor and Exmoor, 40 mins to a beach.

I live in a little coastal town in Kent. I sometimes go up to 3 weeks without any driving at all! I love walking and walk everywhere 2-4 hours a day. I've got a toddler and a 6 year old and they are very used to walking too. Great for my waistline!

Having said that I am very glad I drive as sometimes it can be handy.

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.

I walk everywhere as we live on the edge of a small city, but I wouldn’t consider 25 minutes to be a mission. That’s just a normal walk to the city centre to me. We sometimes do it several times a day, and it’s not an issue (Unless it’s absolutely tipping it down!).

I can't drive, but am rapidly learning in my 30s after moving from a main city to a town. Definitely need the car here, never needed to drive before.

Can walk to...
Schools
Cafe
Doctors
Post office
Scouts
Woods
Small co op
Airport (but currently closed)
Zoo
Soft play
Pub

In nearest town
Supermatket
Shops like B&M, next etc
Library
Swimming pool
Ice rink
DD2 sport
Teain Station

Nearest city
Big mall
DD1 sport (more niche!)

Eta... rhe walking distance stuff is our village and next villages in either direction... each a mile apart