When people say they live “rural”, what do you envision?

[popbingo]

So many posters on MN talk about living rurally. I picture a farmhouse (or something similar) in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields and mountains. The nearest shop would be a 30 minute drive away etc.

Please share your thoughts!

Oooh does it not mean many things?

I'm in a part of the world that is surrounded by countryside and farmland but also has an A and B road network running through the countryside and access to the motorway.

I live in a village. 1200 people. No shop. Local primary has 70 kids. All kids in the village are bused to secondary. No pub. I look over miles of field to the front of my house and one small child desac and farmland out the back. One bus in and out a day.

My house was build on farmland but is on a B road. Meaning I can get to the nearest town and supermarket in ten minutes including a train station, GP, pharmacy and motorway junction. Minor injury 20mins. A&E 35 mins.

Estate agents describe it as semi rural. Which in short means "nothing here, fields but amenities close by if you can drive".

It's still rural to me coming from a town.

I live in rural Somerset a few miles outside Glastonbury. It's a very small town, more of a village really with a few local shops and surrounded by woods and countryside.
I'd like to live on Exmoor but in reality it's not very practical as Im getting older. This is rural enough.
I often have to wait for a herd of cows to cross the road on my way to work.

Have to get in the car just to buy milk. Rural Ireland. So peaceful, no traffic. Bliss

Rural makes me think of one house I lived in. About half hour drive to nearest shop. Surrounded by forests and fields. Couple of neighbours a bit down the road. Hunters going past during hunting season. Power cuts lasted for days because lower priority to fix.

I lasted one winter there, then fled.

I think that I live 'rurally' here in Cornwall...it's a 'blink and you miss it' village with one B road running through it with lots of 'unadopted' country lanes off it including the one we live on...
We're semi detached 100 year old stone cottages with our neighbour with no other dwellings directly nearby, we're surrounded by open countryside with wide far ranging views across to Bodmin Moor one way and to Dartmoor the other way...we can see some other habitations and wind turbines but it's 4 miles to the nearest town and approx 1 mile to the next village with a couple of convenience shops, a pub, a primary school and fish and chip shop only open 2 days a week!
Rural enough for me!! 😊

I think it also depends on the part of the UK you live in.

Living rurally in Surrey is quite different to northern Scotland.

I am the latter and live in a village but I have sea at the front and woods at the back.

I'm not isolated but if you look on a map there's nothing around us for miles.

40 miles to the nearest city and a very rural economy.

If I go out of my front door and walk five minutes it is an open expanse of fields in one direction and sea in the other. But equally I have a co-op and a pub within walking distance.

I'd say I'm rural but not remote but if you were to do population density over a 10 mile radius ours would be much lower than for people in other parts of the UK despite them being further from their immediate neighbours.

I don't think anyone who visits would ever call it urban therefore it's rural.

My PIL live in a hamlet in rural France. They have a bat sleeping in a corner of their porch at the moment and you hear the owls at night. There’s practically no light pollution so the night skies are amazing. They’re surrounded by my FIL’s land (fruit trees, olive groves etc) which he spends hours maintaining daily. He trades produce with the other locals (this can be anything from fruit to wild boar that the neighbours have caught on their own property). They do get post delivered but for parcels sometimes the postal service CBA to go all the way there so they then have to collect from the post office in their nearest town (10 minutes’ drive away). That town has quite a lot of things but there’s nothing closer really. There’s a school, church, local library and town hall about 2km away. I think the library is open 1-2 days a week. Personally I couldn’t stand to have to get into my car for everything.

I wouldn't say I live rurally in real life because everyone here does but if trying to explain on Mumsnet I would because otherwise you get the 'just get an uber' or 'just order a takeaway' type comments.

Or the 'wood burners should be banned ' with no understanding that no mains gas is the norm and that power cuts or snow/storms cut you off for days.

So here it is useful shorthand.

Oh and I forgot to add that my ILs are an hour from the nearest train station and 2 hours from the nearest motorway or airport…!

Exactly this. We are putting a wood burner in because when there’s a power cut we have no means of boiling water or heating anything.

The last power cut was caused by cows!

We have the sea in one direction and fields all around. Two neighbours. No buses. 3 miles to the nearest village and for a pint of milk.

PP asked about work. I work in the town which is about 30 minutes drive away (can take much longer if busy). I go in most days with an occasional WFH if really needed.

Petrol is a big outgoing but rent is reasonable.

Not being contrary. I’m just on holiday in Scotland. It’s the middle of nowhere.

I class the village I live in as rural - beyond my garden there is just a rough track to the local farm
At one side is a field with a few horses
I can sit in my garden and not hear any traffic noise
Crime rate is quite low
We do have a village centre with shops and all the usual amenities - nearest city is a 20-30 minute drive
I love it