Everyone should move away from the cities

[FastQuoter]

Hey everyone. Posting here for more discussion. I want to start a conversation that needs to be had. I've read a number of posts regarding families escaping the big cities for elsewhere and it's been an interesting read. I've used it for my own research too because honestly whilst living in a city has its perks, there is a big trade off regarding one's health, stress levels and community, amongst other things.

I read where village/rural communities across the UK are hostile to Londoners moving in - but it's going to be more of a thing and should be encouraged!

Essentially, I myself, and many other of my friends I've talked to, believe that living in a more village/rural setting is ideal, but we fear the unknown. We fear the reception from others and if we'll fit in here in the UK, which is fair enough but hear me out! I believe more people need to live in rural settings, go back to our roots, the way our ancestors lived.

Grow your own food! I'm telling you they'll be a time soon when such a skill will be vital. Sustain yourself and do not rely on the government to feed you. Please!

Learn to work with your hands! Whether that's sewing (like our mothers and grandmothers did), cooking from scratch, embroidery, hair making, etc etc there is something wonderful about seeing the fruits of your labour. 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 "And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing."

Beneficial for you and your children If you have young children, I can't see anywhere better for them to grow up. To be surrounded by nature as God intended (God put Adam and Even in the garden of Eden). The learn life skills from young.

Please be kind in the comments, this is my view and I certainly welcome rebuttals and counter-arguments but do be respectful.

I live in a city, have an allotment and grow my own food (some anyway) and knit/crochet. Am I doing it wrong? Should I have moved out years ago?
It is convenient for me though because a medical condition means it is uncertain I will be able to drive much longer and where I live has decent public transport, unlike some rural areas.

To be fair, not all places in the countryside are like that. We don't have power cuts and do have mains sewage etc. We don't feel isolated at all, but perhaps that's a sign of how things have changed generally.

@Readyforslippers my parents still live in such a place. I can do 72 hours without my twitchiness becoming unbearable.

As a brown woman, wild horses couldn't drag me away from the Big Smoke, especially in the current climate. Also as a person who hates car culture and doesn't have one, I need public transport.

The Biblical stuff doesn't apply either as I don't believe in God.

To be surrounded by nature as God intended (God put Adam and Even in the garden of Eden)

Um....didn't God quite famously banish them from the garden of Eden?

Do you have any idea of how hard it is to grow sufficient food to feed a family?

I'm interested in what houses you think the millions of people leaving the cities should move into, exactly....

If rural and village life is all that, why are there so many murders in Midsommer?

Wow, do they not have the Internet or anything then? What specifically is it that you struggle without? I don't mean it negatively, I'm just interested in what you miss.

All sounds a bit Little House on the Prairie.

I love living in a city with so much on your doorstep. The thought of living in a village makes me shudder, no jokes. I also love convenience too.

My mum grew up in a village.
She moved away as an adult - found living in a town was easier.
Virtually all her family has left the village now because they are old and need easy access to shops, hospitals and public transport.
Even the younger ones in her family gradually left.
There's no shop, no school (closed circa 1950), no public transport, no pub. There is a church but the congregation is practically zero.
The whole village was snowed in the winter of 63/64. Thankfully a farmer could get his tractor through the deep snow to bring food.
Village life is exciting....🚜

Could be, but I’m leaning towards plopper. Maybe both.

Isn't Midsummer a town?

I moved from London to a village. I do like it here but my heart is still in the city. We have to both have a car, and now teenagers as well as there is no bus service and any jobs are a drive, even for my 17yo.

I bloody hate gardening as well, and the birds / rabbits get anything I try food wise. I can sew though...

I’ll be staying in the city thank you
Mainly to avoid doing most of the things you mention

YABU. Each to their own @FastQuoter.

I love living in the city. I love the choices I have close by and give me a walk in the park over a walk in the countryside any day.

I'd be shit at farming, butchering or crafting and am a total herbicidal maniac.😱

I moved out 35 years ago. Currently live with woods to the front and fields behind. Ds travels 20 miles to school every day. I have a 10 minute rural commute or a 40 minute traffic-free cycle.

No problem with Londoners (or anyone else) moving in, but don't expect cockerels to stop crowing at 4am or church bells to stop ringing on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings, or the farms to stop combining through the night if that is what the weather dictates. The country is not quiet, think of it as one huge food factory. Our nights have owls hooting and deer barking as well.

Muck will be spread and hedges will be cut and the roads will inevitably be muddy for part of the year which means so will your car. Tractors will travel at 5mph and you will have to wait. But the air is clean, food is fresh, you can swap fruit & veg for honey and eggs produced by your neighbours. It's all part of the joy.

If you can cope with all that, you'll be fine. I've never regret my move.

So you are a prepper who believes the apocalypse is imminent. Living in a village won't save you from Armageddon.

Love my city life, no interest in living in a small village

Living in outer London, I can walk / catch public transport anywhere I want to go, including parks, rivers & beautiful hills & meadows, & I regularly bump into friends / neighbours when out.

I’ve got a just-cooked batch of sourdough rolls cooling on the rack & I’m finishing off a crocheted blanket for a colleague’s new baby.

I wouldn’t live anywhere without decent public transport.

Girl that honestly sounds like my idea of hell 😩

I don’t think you have ever lived in the English countryside have you OP? 🤣

Nobody grows their own food or weaves their own textiles. It is exactly the same as living in a suburb, except Tesco’s is a 20 min drive away not a five minute drive away, and you have to ferry your teens everywhere because there are no buses.

Does a move to a rural location also mean you’ll be travelling back in time? Are you anticipating a catastrophic societal breakdown where we’re trading sex for corn? Or is this a weird trad wife post? Either way, YABU.

Lived in London for years. Left to have kids and experience village life. Went back to London after 4 years. Got bored and missed the variety of things to do and see on your doorstep. Missed the multicultural setting and we did/do have a strong local community here in London. It costs me £1.70 to get to work on the bus. It was £550 a month on the train. I can work and take my kids to and from school and work in the office because everything is nearby. Lots of things for retired folk to do too. I absolutely love where I love. It is busy but because it's the norm you don't notice it as much if that makes sense. Plus there is less traffic now and the vehicles are becoming increasingly electric which has reduced pollution in our area. It's not the Victorian times, London is a very green place comparatively. The roads have been adjusted to become more cyclist friendly. So many positives.

Having lived in both a village and city, I can see the positives and negatives of both.

Some people like country living and the quieter.and slower pace. Others like city living. You shouldn't put one down over the other. Each to their own.

In my opinion, as long as you are happy where you live, that is what truly matters. Live and let live, don't be mean about other people's choices.

Lol! I guess op is not coming back?

this week I have: taken the kids wild swimming in a lake, volunteered in our community garden where we all share the harvested veg, visited the Tate, the Science Museum and been to The Proms, eaten out at a Vietnamese restaurant and a Portuguese restaurant, been to a free opera concert in the park, done the shopping for my housebound neighbour, spoken to another neighbour who’s a KC for some free legal advice, gone for a coffee with a third neighbour, taken the cat to the vet, had my haircut, gone to a gaming cafe, treated the kids to a luxury hot chocolate … I could probably go on! Each of these outings involved a trip of between 0 -40 minutes from my house by public transport. I live in London, zone 2.

I am very happy for my friends who enjoy living in the countryside and I love to visit them. But I’m a city person and it’s fab, sustainable, and full of community.

Obviously villages only have a village setting because they are limited by size on how many people can live in them. If everyone lived in one they wouldn’t be villages anymore. They’d be towns and cities so all you will have done is create new cities to get away from old cities.