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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to not understand why people choose to live in the countryside?

176 replies

cumbria81 · 03/05/2011 14:11

Don't get me wrong, I love the countryside as much as the next person. I spend most of my weekends there walking/cycling/whatever.

But why on earth would you want to live in the back end of nowhere where you have to get in the car to buy a pint of milk and everything is a logistical nightmare?

Where I live, 2 miles from a city centre, I can walk to work/a swimming pool/cinema/shops/theatre/train station etc etc. I can also, if I want, run/walk off road through parks and woods for a few miles and am out of the city and into rural land - so best of both.

I don't mind sitting in the car for 1.5 hours on the weekend to get out to the real countryside (ie Dales and Lakes) but if I had to drive every single day for everything I think I'd go spare.

OP posts:

HalfPastWine · 03/05/2011 14:13

I think country dwellers would probably think the same in that they have the peace and tranquility where they live and if they want the big city lights they're only 1.5 hrs away.

I'm a city dweller but would love to live in the country or by the sea so if anyone fancies swopsies give me a shout !

BuntyPenfold · 03/05/2011 14:13

I like to watch the cows at the end of the garden:)

BuntyPenfold · 03/05/2011 14:15

yes, I can go to London any time I want and find Liberty's and the V & A are still there.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 03/05/2011 14:15

I live in the countryside because it's peaceful and quiet (well, when they're not muckspreading, planting or harvesting) and I don't have to spend my time crushed into someone's sweaty armpit on the Underground. However, I'm 10 minutes from town, and about 45 minutes from a city if I want a pint ofd milk or a visit to the theatre. What's not to like?

thetideishigh · 03/05/2011 14:16

This has to be my first .

Do you find it dull, what with having such a small imagination.

I live in a city out of choice by the way but I was brought up in the countryside and I could actually be happy in either. There are benefits and drawbacks to both, can't you see that ?

NinkyNonker · 03/05/2011 14:16

I can't understand why people choose to live in a city. I've never lived more than 1/2 a mile from the sea, the thought of living in a city such as London gives me the shudders.

ggirl · 03/05/2011 14:16

when we extended our house we rented a cottage a mere 10min drive away from the market town we live in
drove me bloody mad driving that road numerous times a day
resolved never to live in the countryside again
and as for friends with kids moving out there...madness!!

Per · 03/05/2011 14:16

I house-sat in deep countryside for a week once. I had to keep phoning people to make sure I wasn't the last to know about a nuclear strike/zombie attack/every human but me is dead type event.

[shudder]

ggirl · 03/05/2011 14:17

to be fair it was more like 20min each way

Original poster

cumbria81 · 03/05/2011 14:18

No, I wouldn't find the countryside dull at all. What I would find dull is having to spend ages travelling to everywhere else, especially commuting in the week for work.

I don't think that cities need be noisy or overcrowded. I live at the top of a long cul-de-sac that backs onto woods and hear only birdsong from my windows. I commute on foot through the woods to work or cycle on back roads through residential areas. I never feel overcrowded.

Yes, I can see the benefits of living in the countryside but only if you don't need to leave the house much!

OP posts:

cuteboots · 03/05/2011 14:19

I have just moved foorm the country to a town and I bloody hate it already. Its easier as my job is 20 mins compared to and hour away and I can drop my son off at school but there are so many downsides. I now have pissed up people strolling past my house when the pub chucks out, no parking and the traffic jams each night are awful. I would move back to the country tomorrow!! Give me fields and cows anyday!

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 14:19

I lived in the countryside for 8 years.
I loved it.
I loved the freedom, the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, the freshair, the rolling fields, the space, the open log fires, etc.

I loved the fact that I ws 5 miles from town, and that to get anywhere, I would have to drive for at least 10 minutes through the most beautiful scenery ever.
only 1/2 a mile fom the nearest small village (with no shops or post office), and I loved the sense of community.

I really miss being in the countryside, and I would choose to live there again if I could.

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 14:20

(btw, my 5 miles from town was with no public transport links at all)

emptyshell · 03/05/2011 14:20

I've lived in countryside-lite before (defined as having a Tesco within 45 minutes drive), and I could quite happily do that again. Got relatives though living on the Scottish Islands and no way on this planet could I do that.

NinkyNonker - one of the oddest things I found about moving to about as landlocked as you can get, having grown up in a coastal town, was not being able to see the sea. Daft huh?

My ex lived in countryside-lite... and when his sister learnt to drive she was forever getting lost and having to ring home for directions. The conversation generally went:
Where are you?
I don't know - that's why I'm ringing.
Well what can you see?
Trees
That's... really not helping here...

nometime · 03/05/2011 14:20

We live in the country and I would love to live even further out in the country. I like opening the door and hearing.....nothing at all. Can't bear the city, if I ever have to go up to London I always come home feeling grubby!

mumblechum1 · 03/05/2011 14:23

I love living in the country, apart from 3 years living in Liverpool (which is hell on earth imo), have lived in 8 areas, but always in either a small village or more remote location.

You just get a bit more organised, so you pick up the pint of milk on the way home from work or order food online.

I love the fact that from the back of my house I see rolling Chiltern hills and there isn't another house in that direction for 8 miles, but am still in a nice village with friendly people.

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 14:23

oh yes, nometime - when I moved to the town, I couldn't get over the bloody noise!
first thing in the morning, birds tweeting outside the window!
no, that did shock me, because in the countryside, you never heard any of it! And I have double glazing here, but in the countryside, it was all single glazing and paper thin walls (it was a bothy, so not the best building standards ever - one up from the barn!).
never used to hear any noise at all!

and cars all the time, and streetlights! Streetlights, who needs those??

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 03/05/2011 14:25

Oh I'd absolutely love it, miles from anybody and anywhere... there are some beautiful places in Britain.

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 14:25

and that hygiene thing they have here - they hate bugs and insects and spiders and slugs etc.
in the countryside, the spiders were 10 times the size, and they never bothered you.

the only time I got bothered was when a swarm of bees wanted to find a new home, and they invaded our house.
we had to leave and go next door for a few hours.
when we got back home, we had to hoover everywhere! seriously - it was like the entire swarm had died in our house. there were thousands of them.

you don't get that kind of excitement in the town.

HecateQueenOfTheNight · 03/05/2011 14:26

I think you simply don't see it as a problem. A couple of miles to get milk? no big deal.

I think when you are used to everything being within grabbing distance, a walk 5 minutes up the road can seem shocking when you are used to travelling 15 miles to the nearest proper supermarket (yup. me. ) then it really doesn't seem like much and it's certainly worth it for the views and the quiet and the fresh air etc.

fruitshootsandheaves · 03/05/2011 14:26

We have to book a bus 2 days in advance if we want it to come through our village!
Am only 4 miles from town even if it is a crap town. Don't have to go into town much as the big supermarkets are on the outskirts!
Never lived in a city. However if i'd thought about it more, I would have moved to a village with at least a shop as always having to put DC's in the car to get anything was a bit of a pain when they were small. there was nowhere to walk to, only the pub!

oohlaalaa · 03/05/2011 14:27

Only ever lived in the countryside. Both DH and I live and work in the countryside (he's a farmer and I'm a self-employed farm secretary), and both like the peace and quiet, going for walks in an evening, tending our veggie patch, and meeting up with friends in local pub (less than 2 min drive or 15 min walk). Its also a 2 min drive, or less than 15 minute walk for village shop for milk. Supermarket shop once a week (10 min drive).

Lots of friends live nearby, so never been a problem.

fruitshootsandheaves · 03/05/2011 14:27

i apologise for the attack of unnecessary exclamation marks in that post.

ggirl · 03/05/2011 14:27

but not living in the coutryside does not mean having to live in middle of big noisy city
there is a quieter alternative
smaller towns

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 14:27

I agree with Hec
why would you plan so badly that you run out of milk and have to get some outside of your normal shopping trip?

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