When I was 10, my parents decided to move to a tiny village on the side of a hill in Shropshire. My sister and I weren’t involved in the discussions at all. I’m not saying we should have had the casting vote, but it felt (and still feels) to me as if we were not considered at all. For contrast, when our boys were 10, 12 and 14, dh was offered a job in Scotland, and we talked it through with them before we made the decision, so we knew what their main concerns were - and we made sure that they were happy to move and that we addressed their concerns (ds2 was a keen cricketer, so we promised to live near a cricket club).
Dsis and I found ourselves living in a tiny village with no amenities apart from a primary school and a church, and where the few kids around had known each other all their lives, and didn’t want to let new people into the circle. Basically I had no real friends, and even when I went to senior school, I only made a couple of friends, and owing to the utter lack of public transport (we lived 2 miles from the nearest bus stop that had only an hourly service in each direction), I could only see them in school.
My parents didn’t seem to consider the social lives of their children at all - only dad drove, and he would only drive us to our music lessons and to Guides, because he did enough driving getting to and from work. There was no question of giving us bus fare, so we could hike to the bus stop and go to see friends. They would get us to activities they approved of - concerts we were in, music lessons, school plays - but I only once went to a school disco - they didn’t approve of pop music, and so there was no way we could go to discos - even the special Christmas disco when I was in Sixth Form.
As an adult, I’d be happy living somewhere remote - as long as I have broadband, and can get deliveries, I can cope - but if you have children, I think you need to put a LOT of effort into helping them maintain social lives.
I was badly bullied from the time we moved until I went to Sixth Form college - I didn’t fit in - I had the wrong accent, was a book worm, and a swot at school, and knew absolutely nothing about farming or rural life. That bullying has blighted my life right up to today.
I think it can work for families, but you need to go into it with your eyes open, and prepared to do what is needed to help your kids fit in, and be happy. My parents wanted the rural idyll for themselves, and I don’t think they would have deviated from their plan even if they had known how unhappy I was going to become.
I’m sorry if this sounds bleak and negative.