To want to move to the country and live in a village?

[Ohnoredundo]

We are really quite settled in the 'burbs. Have a lovely house, friends and family close by and good schools nearby. Also have a lovely community that we're quite well integrated with. BUT I have a weird obsession with moving to the country and living in a village. It's all Cath Kidston's fault I believe...

Would be interested in hearing from people who've lived in both suburbs and villages. Am I over romanticising village life and is it a case of the grass always being greener and me being an ungrateful wench?

Fair enough, Grimma. Wasn;t questioning your choice, just pointing out it wasn't a necessary one in all villages/situations.

I grew up in rural hamlets, not even villages, and looooved it. My sister however hated it, so it's not ideal for teens.
As your DC is still a baby, I'd say do it now, before you get entrenched with school etc, and dc makes bestest friends. Also, if you make the move now, perhaps you could say to DP that you'll give it a two year trial? That way, you can see if it works for you as a family, and if it doesn't, it'll be 'out of your system'.
We've moved from Central London, to suburbs, to small town with fields in sight, and I'm hoping one day we'll get out to the proper countryside! Not possible for now, as I know the realities of country life - we'd need two cars for a start!
Hope you get there, go get some chickens too, so I can live vicariously thru you... [buwink]

The right village, with young children, can be perfect I reckon. But you need to make sure there's a good local school, and preferably a shop.

I moved here as a single parent with a 3 month old baby, knowing no one. Within a matter of weeks I had made several friends, just from walking out with the buggy, and also going to the baby group in town a few miles away. I didn't find it hard to integrate at all.

I like the fact that there are many people here who would help me out if I had a problem. I've lived in towns for most of my life and never had that community feeling.

Having said all that, I grudgingly accept that I may have to move when DS is a teenager as I think village life can be dull at that age.

We moved to a small village almost 3 years ago and absolutely love it, it's quiet it's peaceful it's picturesque blah blah blah.

The local school has 160 kids on roll, the local pre school has 27 places and you have to register for a place at it soon after DC is born, likewise with rainbows, brownies and cubs.....

There is 1 shop. Never let me down yet, always has what I need but usually more expensive! 2 pubs, both family friendly.

On the downside, some of the village stalwarts can be very VERY cliquey :(
You're not classed as a local to them until you've lived in the village for at least 4 generations of your family....... Can be a bit testing at times.....!

Can't see us moving from here though, we're only 5 miles outside of derby city centre, yet it feels like a lot mire than that! Best of both worlds really, 15 min drive to big shopping centre, but country living!!!

Moved to The Sticks about 2 years ago. But only a 10 minute drive from a lovely city (Bath)

It's fab.

Yes, there are some foul neighbours who don't 'get' autistic kids, but that would be true anywhere.

My youngest are twins of nearly 11, so they can and do roam. And often come back hours later with a bottle of still warm milk direct from the dairy farm behind us...

But I think it may have been much less fun with very young children...

Fair enough, Grimma. Wasn;t questioning your choice, just pointing out it wasn't a necessary one in all villages/situations.
I know you weren't - my point was just its something to be aware of. we moved here before we'd even considered kids so it was a bit of a shock- where we'd come from the number of faith schools wasn't so disproportionate as this part of the countryside

I feel depressed now that I don't live in a village :( I want an old Land Rover Defender. I already have the Barbour wax jacket but just look a bit pathetic....

2 year trial is a good idea tiddly.

If you pick the right village it's great.
Our village is 20 min from Bristol which is just over the bridge, 20 min from Newport and 40 min from Cardiff. We have 2 towns 10 min away. So any amenity or service we need is within easy distance.
The village has a pub and a post office and a toddler group.
Most of the kids in the village to to the scho in the next village over. There are lots of family's in the village and we all get on great.
I have lived in a town and find them really cliquey. Everyone sticks with there friends from school etc, it's really hard to make friends. Have also lived in Cardiff which was great as young adults but I would rather bring up kids in the country with the fresh air, woods etc

Moved from the 'burbs 15 years ago. Wouldn't go back if you paid me. I love it here, quiet, walks, friendly people, good schools. We can do things like scavenging, hitting the hedgerows for raspberries, apples, blackberries, damsons, cherries, wild garlic. We know when each is ready now, which we didn't before. We know where to look. I love it.

My DP grew up in a village and everytime we go down to visit his family the first night i always say to DP that we should move down its just soo pretty etc etc BUT by the end of visit im ready to get back to 'civilisation' and know i would go crazy living somewhere that only had a small shop, butchers and pub and was miles from the nearest town. Choose very carefully..

All this 'lovely village 10 mins from a big city' stuff is for wimps! [bugrin]
My village is 45 mins from a moderate sized town (shopping centre with small editions of eg M and S, Debenhams) and over an hour from anything big. I loves it! Can;t be doing with all those people I don;t know walking at the wrong speed in front of me!

I love living in a village, the children have very close friends that they are growing up with, and us parents can all enjoy long walks then back to the village pub that is full of locals, for lazy teatimes....like we did today.

We no longer have a shop, but it's not the end of the world as we can walk a mile to the next village for treats/ice-cream etc. Christmas is lovely as there is lots going on right on our doorstep, also summer fayre is nice.
We have soup kitchens, zumba, bingo, knitter natter, young womens club to name a few, as well as fundraising themed dinner nights/parties so there is always something going on. Not all villages have a strong sense of community though. my kids know everyone and feel safe here.

It is horrible for teens to live in the country. As a parent you will be their taxi.

I grew up on a farm just outside a village. I loved going to boarding school at age 12 because I had friends there I could see every day.

I worked on my Dads farm for 8 months between school and uni and the day I left was the day I vowed to never go back. I dont hate the country but it can be a green and verdant prison.

I live on the edge of a small city now overlooking countryside. I walk 10 minutes to the city centre for shops, cinema, railway, etc and 10 minutes to open country. It is a good compromise and I would never live in the countryside again.

Your current situation sounds pretty good tbh. What exactly is it about village life that you don't have where you are?

I've lived in large suburban sprawl, in London and then at varying distances from a rural city in 3 locations. The first was a mile from the nearest village :) Where I live now in a small market town 5 miles from the city seems a good compromise between the glorious yet impractical isolation and the hustle and bustle. BTW, I had a serious accident whilst living rurally and had to move out for 3 months because I couldn't drive. Did have deer in the garden though :)

It may be horrible for some teens to live in some country places, MoreBeta, but DD loves it. I do run her about a fari bit but can usually combine it with other errands. SHe tays over with friends a fair bit, or them here so less late night ferrying. I think that there would be a bit of ferrying required in a town/city too, especially in the eveniongs, for safety reasons (no idea really as haven;t lived in one either as a teenager or with one!
I was quite happy in my little village when I was a teen. Lived in towns later, but don;t really like it...

Whenever we go to the lake district I always think I'd like the idea of living in the countryside.

However as I grew up in south London I can't imagine I'dast long without going mad. But I would like ds and dd to have access to decent green space and not worry so much about traffic/crime etc.

We live semi-rural, we still commute to Manchester but you need cars to live here as there is no public transport.

Love the fact we can see hares, pheasants, walk by the canal, there are pubs and a village centre.

I think this is a perfect happy medium for us, maybe when we are old we will move a little further out but for now this definitely beats the 'burbs we have lived in.

Oh and the schools are excellent.

Our village schools are lovely. We don't have one here but the two closest have fabulous reputations. There may not be choice like in cities but that doesn't mean they're not good schools.

Hmm...I haven't ever lived in a town so can't imagine moving into a village. I've only ever lived in two villages and they're closely linked by distant and activities. There are some people who moved here from the London/Kent are and to be honest, when I tried to spark a conversation with one mother I was left feeling a bit awkward. She spoke with that BBC style accent and we didn't seem to find any common ground.

Not her fault, but as people have said it may be difficult integrating at first at villagers sometimes tend to be more inclined to mix with people like themselves.

Not sure if that makes sense but it's my experience. I imagine getting involved with the local catchment school, joining coffee mornings, going to village events etc (no matter how old-fashioned they may seem) are all things that will help.

There is another thread here about rural life, I can't search and link right now I'm on my phone but it could give you a little more insight. There are many pros and cons.

I have to say in grew up in the country, then was an urbanite for a good decade, then I moved back to the country with romantic memories if what it was like.... But now I'm bored. I miss the urban lifestyle. I work in a city and envy all the people who live in the town houses I walk past. Also think that in some ways dcs get a better lifestyle in cities. All their school friends live nearby and activities are easy to get to. There is more diversity in cities and country folk can be quite close minded ime.

Inabeautifulplace - that's a very good question. Well...i live in a suburb that's on the fringes of beautiful countryside - in fact it's a 15 minute walk to the North Yorkshire Moors. I also do feel there is a good community sprit where I live. But I just can't help but feel I would like to live in a quaint village with a cozy country pub - not one with a coke problem like our local. I see rather pathetic phallic graffiti by bored in-betweener type teens on our lampposts and I think 'you'd never get this in a village'. I also like the idea of being a bit away from it all - although as I've never lived in that situation I don't know if I would actually like it or if it's just a fantasy. And suburbia is just quite boring and grey. I like going the whole hog in life.

I live in a village, oddly it's five mins from a small city. I've lived in the suburbs of London, various other cities, large town. Really, it's the friends you make that make the place.

Not all teens hate living in the countryside. I grew up in a village on the edge of the Pennines and was very happy there. Somehow, after living in all sorts of places throughout my adult life, I've ended up settling in inner city London, and I loathe it here. Give me the stink of manure over the stink of traffic fumes, giant street bins and junk food joints any day {get me out of here emoticon}.