Do you have to be a millionaire to live in the country?!?

[dreamsofacres]

There are so many reasons I want to live in the country. The main one is that I crave privacy and peace. A house with no neighbours.
Don't care about the state it's in, a fixer upper would suit me fine.
But around my area were talking millions. Any plots of land for sale come split in half so you have a direct next door neighbour.
I'm seriously looking at doing it in about 5 years when the DCs are no longer at nursery and we don't have fees. I own a house now but I don't think it would grow too much in equity.
I just can't see a way of doing it without winning the lottery.
I'm trying to get myself in the best financial position possible and have started doing prolific , but no joy on Appen or anything else.

Prolific is a survey website.. sorry. So I'm doing them as often as I can

Depends where in the UK you go, there are lots of cheaper countryside areas, but the downsides that go with that.

Herefordshire

Thing is, you can move to the country and then they decide to build 4000 homes right next to you.

You obviously don't have to be a millionaire to live in the country.

You might have to be a millionaire to afford a house with enough land that you have no neighbours though.

It really depends on where and how much land you want.

I live rural, plenty of just normal people here. Even people who have a couple of acres don't strike me as millionaires. Houses like that would be around 600k.

Not many houses here with acres and acres unless they are farms.

There's a couple of abandoned houses with some land. But that's because they are nowhere near anything is inaccessible for a large portion of the year (later autumn/winter). Which sound fine until you get to an age, that it's not easy.

You also have to be careful that on moving to the country, your home does not become your prison. Also if you have teen children, there is not much for them to do and you would end up driving them everywhere.

Don't care about the state it's in, a fixer upper would suit me fine.

Also not just so easy to get people I'm to do some work when you live in a isolated area.

Lincolnshire Wolds are lovely . No one seems to know about them.

Have you previous experience of living rurally? Depending on how rural you're talking it can be a complete pain in the backside. I live in the sticks and it is so bloody inconvenient at times. Not to mention the maintenance involved in having a big garden. I long for a smaller, low maintenance house in town like the one I grew up in but it's not possible right now financially - to answer you're or I final question no you definitely don't need to be a millionaire as I'm far far from that!

Not at all in Northumberland, the price is one of the big advantages of rural properties.

@Whiskycav it's not easy to get anyone now!

Both DH and I now work from home so there isn't much keeping us where we are now. We live in the North West and honestly there's no land or farms etc. Semi rural houses are around £1 million round here

My parents live in North Wales (I grew up there) and there are some very very cheap properties in some of the run down dilapidated villages there. If your idea of 'living in the country' is a large detached house with a massive garden and barns and mountain views then yes, you do need cash. But if you're happy with a damp stone house that's dark for most of the year and where you have to fight off mountain goats every so often and have to drive 15 miles to the nearest supermarket, then you can get a small house for 30K easy.

If you wfh check you'll get tinternet in the sticks...

@ShinyMe I would rather be fighting off mountain goats than dealing with other people

[quote dreamsofacres]@Whiskycav it's not easy to get anyone now!

Both DH and I now work from home so there isn't much keeping us where we are now. We live in the North West and honestly there's no land or farms etc. Semi rural houses are around £1 million round here [/quote]
We don't have a problem in out village at the moment. Getting my roof done later shortly and new windows.

But the local tradesmen only book work at the isolated properties in summer, when the weather is likely to be better. And also, with plenty of work in the village they don't want to waste a big part of their day travelling and doing less work.

I have lived in a town centre, edge of city, in a village, in a huge 'village'. And in a fairly isolated property.

These things are definitely a bigger challenge.

Both DH and I now work from home so there isn't much keeping us where we are now. We live in the North West and honestly there's no land or farms etc. Semi rural houses are around £1 million round here

Definitely check Internet access and speeds. Its still oddly difficult to get Internet out in the sticks.

I get the appeal though.

Won't you be driving your DC's everywhere if you live in the country? Bus routes are bed enough in small towns, let alone out in the sticks.

@ShinyMe

My parents live in North Wales (I grew up there) and there are some very very cheap properties in some of the run down dilapidated villages there. If your idea of 'living in the country' is a large detached house with a massive garden and barns and mountain views then yes, you do need cash. But if you're happy with a damp stone house that's dark for most of the year and where you have to fight off mountain goats every so often and have to drive 15 miles to the nearest supermarket, then you can get a small house for 30K easy.

Seriously thought, the goats are vile. They STINK and they eat everything and they aren't scared of anything (especially not old ladies waving walking sticks and bashing saucepans and shouting at them). They knock your garden walls down and smash pots and stand there waving their horns at you.

DH's friend managed to get a 4 bedroom country house in the Cotswolds for 400k so it should definitely be possible further north. It is a real fixer upper though. New windows, new electrics, new kitchen and bathrooms, new floors... basically new everything. The other downside is that it's on a busy country road. Bloody terrifying pulling out of his driveway knowing there could be a car doing 70mph heading our way. We have to roll the windows down and turn the radio off to listen for traffic.

I live near the countryside and have a few friends who live much more rural than me with their 1 bus a day and no shop for miles and back gardens that flow into fields and they have council houses.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/97214261#/
You would get a lot for your money in east Lancashire
Some lovely rural areas around places like Bacup, Colne, Barrowford, Barnoldswick
I’m not in that part of lancs although DP and lots of friends live in those sorts of areas
Where I am is pretty quiet and rural but I can only afford a semi detached in a lovely village

I live rurally in the NW and I agree rural houses are put up for stupid money. But a lot are for sale for months, even years because they’re so over priced.

There are much cheaper areas like Wales, Lincolnshire or Scotland for example. Prices have gone up a lot since lockdown, but I think quite a lot of people who have moved to the country will want to move back in 12 months or so nice the novelty wears off. And prices may become more sensible!

No not a millionaire but you have to be somewhere non commutable like :

South west Scotland
www.onthemarket.com/details/10696398/

Scottish highlands
www.hspc.co.uk/Detached-Cottage-For-Sale-Taigh-an-Tobair-Colbost-Dunvegan-IV55-8ZT

Wales (outside Cardiff and Pembroke)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78162414

Scottish/ Northumberland Borders

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110358059