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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:

BuntyPenfold · 03/05/2011 16:03

I am 30 minutes from Sainsbury's and 3 paces away from a cow - perfect.

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 16:04

Figgy also lives in the most amazing place - and right opposite a pub! (she already said that, but I'm emphasizing it)
(and it's a hamlet, too, so it's her, the pub and another house! )

she's also in the stages of joining my WI, which is very lovely (and if you're in the WI, you know everyone and everything )

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 16:05

anyway, Cow Walks are fun - you get to sit in a beautiful country lane for 10 minutes watching cows walk across the road.

and laugh at non-locals on the other side who are getting annoyed at it!

NoWayNoHow · 03/05/2011 16:06

ggirl hear hear.

Why must it be hustling bustling city vs arse end of nowhere?

There are PLENTY of inbetween options...

I live 10mins drive/train from a city, 10mins drive/train from the coast, and 10mins drive from the middle of nowhere. Small market town with facilities like pool/supermarket/library/pharmacy in walking distance, and a train station to London (1hr) and loads of other places.

I love how I get to have the best of both worlds.

NoWayNoHow · 03/05/2011 16:07

BTW, that's coming from someone who lived in London for 8 years before moving here.

Insomnia11 · 03/05/2011 16:09

I live in the countryside but also the train takes 40 minutes to London. There are plenty of shops and facilities, good schools and there is lovely countryside all around us. We can be at the seaside in an hour. The village we live in is friendly without being OTT. The street we live on is safe for kids to play out. It's kind of the best of all words but I can also understand perfectly why someone would want to be somewhere more isolated and remote, as well as understand why someone would want to be in the middle of a city.

ThePrincessRoyalFiggyrolls · 03/05/2011 16:16

I tell you something - you don't pay to have to visit the farm animals , last week on the way to nursery dd and I had to capture a lamb and put it back in the field - no way you'd get to do that in a city.

I agree though somewhere inbetween would work for me too, no doubt when dh and I get old and crumbly we will want to be nearer to a bit more bustle and action, so we can go clubbing .

Maybe for some a hamlet is a bit extreme, I bet though if I screamed in the middle of the night my neighbours would all be running to help, or if the car alarm went off (which is a moot point as we never lock the car), or the house alarm.........eyelids would most definitely bat!

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 16:16

oh, there you go - the town has a railway station, but yo uhave to pay to park.
from my old countryside home, a same-length drive in the opposite direction took you to a station in a village, where you don't have to pay to park, and there are no staff, either, so you can get on the train without paying!

Taht was one of my favourite things - when you'd get off at Maidstone, sometimes they had guards checking for fare-dodgers, and you'd stand behind these kids all making excusees as to why they hadn't paid (so they got fines) and I'd be able to go "i got on at Hollingbourne, I need to buy my ticket here" and they'd go, "okay, then, sorry to delay you"

MarionCole · 03/05/2011 16:18

Personally I don't understand why people would choose to live in the city.

missmyoldname · 03/05/2011 16:18

Haven't read whole thread, but think you have a stereotypical view of the countryside OP! Not all of the 'countryside' is 1.5 hours drive from 'civilisation'!

I live in the countryside in a village. I can walk to the village school (10mins), to the local shop (10 mins), to the local restaurant (10 mins), the local pub (5 mins), the library (15 mins), the takeaway (10 mins), the local mother and toddlers (15 mins), the doctors (10 mins) etc etc

Granted I have to drive to the supermarket - but so do most people!

I have beautiful views from my bedroom window, lovely countryside walks virtually from my doorstep, everything I need (on a daily basis) within walking distance.

I am 30-40minutes drive from a large city, and 15 minute drive from nearest supermarket. It takes me 30 mins to drive to work but it took me just as long to get to work when I was living and working in a city.

I wouldn't have it any other way!

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 16:21

ooh, Figgy - i've had to do that too!!
aren't lambs so warm and cuddly!

and walking through fields of sheep (where normal folk wouldn't be allowed, but cos we lived on the land, we were allowed)

DarthNiqabi · 03/05/2011 16:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ripeberry · 03/05/2011 16:33

Not bothered about how quiet or noisy things are. The main thing is that there are less people in the countryside and less encounters with weirdos.
That does not include the locals though

I've always found that parks in towns and cities are always full of others but at least in the countryside you KNOW that you are the only one there, especially if it's a wheat field or wood off the beaten track.

Used to love finding a good spot in a wheat field on a sunny day, away from anything and having a long nap....bliss. Reminds me, got to get my bike out again.

ThePrincessRoyalFiggyrolls · 03/05/2011 16:34

I love lambs , dd thinks it was the best day ever! That and watching the cows being herded down the road. Oh and when the police motocyclists were doing a ride around and they STOPPED to talk to us and they put on the BLUE lights for her..............

I guess some places are unfriendly but the countryside in the summertime is fab, and now we don't have to suffer next doors "smoke" breaks in their garden floating over the wall to ours and into the house. Lovely.

Although the downside is the dead rabbits/live rabbits and other "things" the cat has decided to bring in from time to time............

Unbelievably we have a fantastic social life too, it tends to be a bit cheaper in general as you don't just pop out on a whim and social life tends to be at other peoples houses so children are usually most welcome.

ThePrincessRoyalFiggyrolls · 03/05/2011 16:35

Ooh Ooh forgot the most important one -

NAKED SUNBATHING

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 16:41

I couldn't do naked sunbathing - that's one of the drawbacks of living on the farm! you don't want Lord and Lady coming through with the dog, or the gardener coming along with his weedkiller while your norks are out!

BuntyPenfold · 03/05/2011 16:42

SSSHHHH ThePrincess, or they'll all be here wanting elbow room.

ThePrincessRoyalFiggyrolls · 03/05/2011 16:42

yeah but the lord and lady in question are a game old pair I bet they would have thought it hilarious!

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 16:43

they probably would!

nickelbabe · 03/05/2011 16:44

(but i would dread the comments at the next Harvest Supper)

HarrietJones · 03/05/2011 16:49

I live on the outskirts of a small town (phil&kirsty would count as rural) 10 mins walk to town/schools/cinema but 10mins drive from the Lake district. I think that's a pretty good compromise!

30 mins from a supermarket but I get by

SummerRain · 03/05/2011 16:52

Princess... the police here did the same for the kids once and they still talk about seeing the flashing lights

The fire brigade visit the schools and last time they brought all the kids in the fire engine to the station and set them up with treats and colouring and then drove them back in the fire engine...... I don't think i'll ever stop hearing about that one!

Bonsoir · 03/05/2011 16:55

I understand why people live in city centres (as I do), and why people live right out in beautiful countryside (as my parents do). What is quite beyond me is why anyone would ever want to live in the suburbs or a provincial town

GetOrfMoiCase · 03/05/2011 17:03

Totally agree Bonsoir - market town or suburbs worst of both worlds. You have to put up with the inconvenient aspects of a city (traffic, pollution etc) without any of the positive aspects of the countryside.

Insomnia11 · 03/05/2011 17:03

Some people's perceptions are funny though. In my teenage years we lived about 20 minutes by train from Manchester and about 15 minutes drive from another large town, in a sort of semi rural place but with all the amenities of a town...

I remember hearing one woman who had obviously got on the wrong train out of Manchester say into her mobile on alighting "I don't know where I am...in the sticks somewhere"... I tried not to laugh too hard :o

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