to wonder what country life is really like?

[longestlurkerever]

I've always wanted to start a thread to ask what people in the countryside actually do at weekends and after work, but thought it might come across as a bit rude. But there have been so many threads asking how people can bear living in London lately that I am just going to ask.

I love beautiful countryside. Sometimes I feel if I moved somewhere glorious I could just sit and drink in the view and feel happy. But then I kick myself and think "but what would you actually do?" Where would you take the kids when they're driving you mad and you just need to get out of the house? Would you really just go for yet another walk? Do kids really keep themselves entertained all day with a stick like MN would have you believe? What about when it's dark at 4pm or wet every weekend for months?

So, people who enjoy country life - can you describe what you actually fill your time with? Especially if you're a bit meh about horses and animals in general? Or is that no one who lives in the country?

I guess you'll get a huge variety of answers here. Personally I have a 25min commute which is as long as I'd contemplate. Dp commute 15-20. Obviously we both gave our own car. Neither of us can get to work by public transport at all.

Although saying that there are two fairly big centres for work that are busable I just don't happen to have a job in either of them. I used to and that was handy but I still had my own car, but could use bus if I wanted.

I'm very lucky, we live in the country (a hamlet of 6 houses) we back onto a reservoir and have a cafe and a couple of pubs within walking distance (20 minutes tops).

We are 30 minutes from two large conurbations with everything that a city can offer, and having lived in London in my youth we have access to museums, theatres etc etc in a similar travelling distance (unless you are based centrally in London).

What we don't have is the crowds, crime, pollution etc. I was in London last week for London and commented to DH how many people seem to smoke in London compared to "up north" nowadays. He pointed out that I just don't see the same number of people in a similar situation (eg we walk dogs, visit NT properties, go swimming, skating, cycling, in London I was walking city streets).

My commute is 10 minutes (unless I follow a tractor), but I know I am very lucky in that fact.

My commute was 10 mins. DH works from home several days a week and has a commute of around an hour if he goes to the office. The plan is for me to also work from home in future.

my parents live on the edge of a small town in a rural/coastal area. It has a Spar, a chemist, one pub, two buses a day and a p/t police station. It also has a massive drug problem amongst the teenage population and god help you if you need an emergency ambulance.
I would still move there like a shot if I could

I have just come back from 4 days in London..

I live in rural West Midlands.

In 40 minutes in a car, I can be in Gloucester, 45/50 mins to Cheltenham or Birmingham, an hour and ten to Bristol, a smidgen longer to Weston..

In 40 minutes in London I can get to.. another bit of London. (I got from Enfield to Hackney. )

What do we do here? Go places, see people, go to the pub, eat out, stay in, visit other people, watch tv, go to the cinema..

I would think being sensible the major differences are, less 24hour stores, I could still buy posh cake in Hackney at 9pm, the wholefoods store closed at 9.30... here, whilst there are some supermarkets that close at 9 or 10 and a few larger 24 hour ones, you are stuffed if you want posh cake or a packet of quinoa at 9pm.

Asides from that, everything is cheaper, prettier, you are considerably less likely to get stabbed or shot or run over and we have most of the same things Londoners do.. hot and cold running water, tv, internet, etc..

I love it but my teenage sons want to move to the nearest town, where all their friends live.

you are considerably less likely to get stabbed or shot or run over

Hmm. But on the other hand you're considerably less likely to get killed by a herd of stampeding cows or freak tidal wave or (insert other very improbable event here) in London, so it's swings and roundabouts

In 40 minutes in London I can get to.. another bit of London. (I got from Enfield to Hackney. )

This is true, up to a point, and to me one of the main drawbacks of London. You can't get out very easily if you want a change of scene. Well you can. 40 mins from my house North or East would take you to rural Hertfordshire or Essex- nothing wrong with those places -- but if I wanted mountains or sea or anything dramatic like that I would need to go a lot further and that does make me feel a bit cooped up at times.

On the other hand - as I mentioned previously - driving 40 minutes in the countryside costs a lot more money than getting the tube, and I do find it rather unfair when people sneer at cities for being dirty and polluted while admitting to driving long distances on a regular basis to access things that in cities would be accessed by walking or via public transport.

As for commutes, mine is about 20 minutes in the car. DP doesn't commute as he's in the Navy but if he's on deployment or on training it's not commutable distance so he stops overnight. His 20 years will be up at the end of next year and he's already been offered a position in the Surface Fleet near us, which is about a half hour commute for him.

OP whatever people say about the country you just answer with we have tgat in London but better! It's clear your happy where you are which is fantastic but don't pretend this post is anything other then an opportunity for you to say where you live is better then where other people live

Ollycat

Personally, you couldn't pay me to live in London! I prefer actually knowing my neighbours and being able to get to a green space within seconds. Also, we live longer round here and I can actually sleep at night because all I can hear is gentle mooing and bleating. It's lovely.

TBH is thread is just plain annoying now.

You want to know what people in the 'country' do for fun? How long it takes to get to work? How close the shops are? Etc etc?

Have you never heard of Google?

Places people consider 'country' can be wildly different. If you're genuinely interested rather than just wanting to tell us how great London is then you do some bloody research.

Use the tourism websites, the council websites, the parish websites. Use the local police crime
maps. Look at local news stories. Look at a map. Use Google for satellite images, street view and directions to the amenities you want.

Seriously, it's not exactly difficult.

I do find it rather unfair when people sneer at cities for being dirty and polluted while admitting to driving long distances on a regular basis to access things that in cities would be accessed by walking or via public transport.

You make it sound like no one drives in London! You might not, but the traffic certainly suggests that quite a lot of people do...

Trust me I have no desire to be in London- been there done it! Love where I live! I was meaning the OP whatever anyone says about how great where they live she replies with how much better London is - it's clear she has no real interest in what it's like living in the country- we're all culture deprived, narrow minded yokels polluting the air with her cars! Her question wasn't a question but just an opportunity for her to say that she lives somewhere better then everyone else.

Also re the argument that once you've bought an Oyster card all is free - a zone 1 & 2 card is £32 pw which is considerably more then I pay for petrol a week

Nakotomi

I have to disagree with you re sheep - I have them behind my house at the moment (backing into my garden) and they make a bloody racket!! That combined with the deer in front of the house last night woke me up! Still much prefer it to sirens etc

'The country'? Pretty broad term. You seem to mean, anywhere 'provincial'.

Anyhoo, a 15 minute cycle for me (or 5 min drive) and a 10 minute bus trip (plus 10 mom walk) or drive for DH.

I think it's a slightly odd question tbh. The vast majority of people who live in the countryside still have things like pubs, a cinema, shops, parks etc. Unless you currently spend your whole time in swanky restaurants, theatres and large shopping centres there's probably not much you'd miss (unless you were living somewhere pretty remote).

I've lived in London and now live in a rural village in Cumbria. I would not go back. Yes I go on lots of walks, admire the countryside, swim in the odd lake. I do nit spend my time playing with a stick or collecting conkers. I see friends, go out for a meal (at actual restaurants ), take my kids to the cinema or the swimming pool and do stuff that normal people do.

OP you have a hilariously stereotypical view of countryside dwellers. Might I ask if you enjoy your weekends eating jellied eels, dressing up as a pearly queen and riding on red double decker buses?

Well I totally disagree tbh. I have found this thread interesting and informative. I have really devoured the posts that have talked about the joys if country life and they have made me and it has really made me examine what I love and whether it matches up. It is finely balanced IMO. Maybe if I wasn't already settled here maybe I would have a better life elsewhere. Who knows? Maybe I will pluck up the courage to try it one day. In the meantime ii enjoy holidays in the countryside.

I have defended London life as I do love that too, but I gave acknowledged where I think a criticism is fair, even when it has been delivered in an aggressive tone.

Plenty of people have said they spend their time on simple pleasures like fruit picking, and made it sound attractive, so I don't see what's so stereotypical about my questions. Plenty of other people have admitted to driving long distances so I don't see what's unfair about pointing out the environmental impact of that, to counterbalance the criticism of polluted London.

How has the OP got a 'hilariously stereotypical' view of countryside dwellers? She has said that she can see the appeal of living rurally but wanted to ask some genuine questions about how people spend their time or how long it takes them to get to work. She hasn't called anyone yokels or narrow minded. Given that there's a thread running asking 'Please tell me why anyone would want to live in London' (the latest in a long line of similar threads), I don't see a problem with what she's asking. I never see threads asking 'Why would anyone want to live in Cumbria/Cornwall/Wales/Devon/ The Shetlands?' There is a current thread where numerous posters are piling in to say that they would never bring up children in London. I've read a post by someone saying that they would rather eat dog shit than live here. It all gets a bit wearing having to constantly defend where you live. Nobody else in the UK has to do this.
Sometimes, in response to yet another 'Why the hell would anyone want to live in that shithole?' thread, people post in defence about why they love London and they're then piled on with 'We have all that too!' and 'People do exist outside the M25 you know' along with loads of comments about how dirty/crowded/polluted/unfriendly London is.
There are loads of people on here posting about how they used to live in London and are so glad they left but it's not ok to say (like me) that you used to live in the countryside and are so glad you left. It's ok to say that you love fresh air and walking in the woods but if you say that you love the diversity of London and the tons of stuff to do, you're arrogant and smug and think that there's no life outside London.
I get that people like different things. My Dsis and her 3 DCs live in the middle of nowhere in mid Wales. They are blissfully happy. DH and I and our 3 DCs live in zone 2 in London and are blissfully happy. We love visiting them but are glad to get home and vice versa.
Nobody likes feeling that where they live is being attacked but Londoners are just supposed to put up with it.

Sorry for all the typos. Am on kindle.

Thanks Misshoolie. Nowhere have I said that where anyone lives sounds rubbish. I have asked questions and defended London when it has been criticised, that is all. If no one wants to answer my questions, that ius fine. It is not compulsory! I thought sharing info was the point of mumsnet though

I wasn't very helpful in my last post, sorry OP.

Our part of the countryside is really easy to live in. We have great transport links, plenty of retail opportunities within walking distance, thriving local nightlife...

...even a cinema a couple of miles down the road. And of course all the lovely wildlife.

Seriously, there's nothing to miss.

MissHoolies I would completely agree with you if longestlurk was making these comments on the other thread, which I agree is horrible. But she started her own thread which does feel very much like a smug 'but how do you cope with your boring lives?!', and I think this is a pretty clear 'two wrongs don't make a right' scenario!

Clearly, though, we're all bringing our own things to this. I hear the 'I could never live outside London' and insistence that everywhere else is 'close-minded' (fun fact: did you know that literally everyone in London and no one outside it voted Remain?) a lot from my friends from university, and it's pretty fucking annoying. Just as, clearly, both you and OP are pissed off by (and in part reacting to) the London-bashing, which I agree is frequent and ignorant.