To think you should actually be able to access the countryside by foot if you live in it?

[PickledPlums]

DH and I are at loggerheads about a house. We found a lovely large country house that ticks all the boxes except one big one. You can't actually walk anywhere as there are no pavements and no footpaths. It's on an A road so I can't imagine walking along there would be safe. We have dogs that we walk every day and we enjoy walking ourselves. In order to walk the dogs we will need to drive somewhere every day. We currently live in a city and just walk out the door and to the park/woods. AIBU to think this is a deal breaker? The house just seems a bit like an island.

I don't understand. If the A roads on one side what's on the other 3?

We live somewhere like that. Its a pita. We are moving.

Having to drive the dog somewhere to walk it seems pointless.

We can live less rurally, have better access to shops, school, town etc and walk the dog from the house.

Have you checked Google maps for any hidden footpaths etc that might not be visible from the house?

I'd look on an Ordinance Survey map for footpaths that might not be obvious ,but otherwise,no I wouldn't move there.If all you wanted to do was look out of your windows at the lovely countryside,then fine,but if you want to walk definitely no!

Being totally dependent on cars to even leave your house sounds like a bad idea.

I know someone who was in the same situation and they lasted a year before moving again.

Yeah, that would annoy me.

Would be deal breaker for me too

Go and see how busy the A road actually is. Is it a dual carriageway or a 30 limit on the outskirts of a quiet village? Are the verges wide and mown enough to walk along or are you jammed against a thorny hedge if something comes towards you. Is it miles until you hit the nearest footpath or do you just have a short 100m stretch until you can get into the off road? Also, ask the current owner about paths, there may be permissive paths that are not marked on ordnance survey.

Having said all that, chances are it would be a deal breaker, especially with dogs or kids.

i live in a house like that
When we move , one of my priorities will be somewhere to walk without driving first

Whats around the house? If you can cut across one field to a footpath for instance then you can find the landowner and ask if that would be ok.

My main worry would be dogs escaping next to an A-road, unless it's set back and gated.

I don't understand. Are there fences everywhere around the house? Is it all overgrown wilderness? Or fields that the farmer won't want you to walk through?

If it is unfenced meadows, then you can put on sturdy boots and walk over it. That's not comfortable, but claiming you cannot access the countryside is a bit exaggerated in that case.

I would recommend not to do it. It can be very isolating and depressing.
P.s. If you wanted to have a quick check of public footpaths then bing maps have ordnance survey layer on them- very useful.

It'd be a deal breaker for me.

PILs live in the countryside - you can walk out the door and access footpaths etc - but if you need to do anything other than go on a nice walk, you need the car. Can't safely walk somewhere to even buy a pint of milk or loaf of bread.

It's mildly irritating when we visit, but it would be a massive issue for me if we actually lived there full time. Not even being able to get out to walk dogs without getting in the car would be a leap of magnitude worse.

We are in a similar ish house. There are footpaths at the back of our house but the fields are full of livestock so we choose to drive to alternative dog walking locations. We have a short stretch of pavement outside our house but not enough to go anywhere. It really doesn't bother me at all, you learn to be move organised and the peace and lack of neighbours make it a worthwhile trade off.

I wouldn't. And you certainly shouldn't go trespassing if it's not a right of way or access land! Friends are farmers, some of their land may appear vacant but it is all used - some of it for conservation purposes, some for growing silage, some set aside as winter grazing. They do not like it when people assume they can walk wherever they like, particularly as they take great care of the footpaths they have on their land, and I don't blame them.

We used to live somewhere like that and hated it.

Our road wasn't an A road, but it was narrow and windy and full of dickhead drivers who thought it was appropriate to treat it like a rallying track.

We had fields around us with plenty of rights of way but they weren't maintained and some farmers had put up electric fences across them, grown crops right to the very edge of the field over the right of way, gates were locked, etc.

We had to drive to the nearest National Trust nature reserve.

We now live right on the edge of a small town - we still have fields around us but the rights of way are maintained, we've got a huge park at the end of our back garden, woods within walking distance

The house is on a private road with five other houses. A large school sits on one side behind a wall and a house behind and a house on the the other side. The other houses are set well back so not over looked. I think behind the last house on the road is a bit of woods and then a golf course but there's no path nor right of way. I'll have a look on the OS map and see if I'm missing anything.

PILs live in the countryside - you can walk out the door and access footpaths etc - but if you need to do anything other than go on a nice walk, you need the car. Can't safely walk somewhere to even buy a pint of milk or loaf of bread.

Yes, that's sort of the point of being in the countryside.

Don't do it. I live in the country thought it would be wonderful but grass is boring after a while, driving everywhere makes you scared of ice and snow and of forgetting basics like milk. I have to drive kids everywhere not like when I could go out on my own as a teen and going out in the evening with friends is a nightmare as taxis cost a fortune to anywhere decent. No pavement or footpath to walk away from your house sounds the pits tbh.

Sounds like heaven to me but if I enjoyed walking like you do I wouldnt even consider it.
Is there a particular reason this house is so nice? Is it a low price, in an otherwise good location?
I'd only consider it if there was a good reason in addition to all boxes being ticked and you can afford or already have a 2nd car.

They're a pita to get deliveries to as well. I worked for a company once and one woman was always complaining as the delivery company we used wouldn't deliver direct to her as she lived on an A road with nowhere to park or pull in, and only space for her car in the driveway. The delivery company had a policy whereby they couldn't just pull up on the side of an A road (fair enough, safety issues) so delivered to the post office, which was quite a way away. Absolutely nothing could be done about it.

We nearly made that mistake. And I was very glad that we'd chosen the edge of a village once we had dc. We could walk to the shop and school or off into fields.

We live in a weird place with similar problems. It's a village that you can access from a busy A road. It is pretty rural but you can't walk to any shops. You could walk a dog but I worry about our kids in the future as to access the local beauty spot or shops they'd have to cycle on a winding country lane that cars roar along. I am terrified they would get mown down. So this is definitely not our forever house and I suspect we'll be moving in the next five years

Deal breaker for me. Did it once. Hated it. Spent more time in the car than when I lived in the suburbs.