How easy is it to find an au pair if you live somewhere rural?

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We're having a childcare rethink and I'm wondering about an au pair. They would have their own room, bathroom shared with DD and their own living room once DD is in bed (but are welcome in the other one with us). My worry is we live in a semi-rural location. We are on the edge of a small village that doesn't have many amenities.

They would have to be able to drive and would have a car, we are 30 minutes drive from a large university town, so they could spend spare time there and there is a lot to do, but there is nothing you can walk to, unless you like country walks. The hours would be 3pm-6pm, with some baby sitting and the odd morning drop off.

Are we likely to get anyone interested? Most au pairs seem to want to be in London or other big cities which is understandable. We would want someone for 12 months ideally as I don't want too many changes for DD.

it doesn't sound ideal but you will not know until you try. There might be someone out there trying to finish their PhD thesis or something like that who would appreciate the peace and quiet of somewhere rural. I am assuming you would provide them with a car and pay for the insurance, right?

I've had au pairs when we were in the same situation as you. Generally I found the Scandanavians were more pro active and didn't find being in a village was a big deal. They too had use of a car which helped.

A friend of mine lived near Cambridge in a similar situation to yours.... She and her friends chose au pairs from the same country or who were friends, so the au pairs had a ready made social life of sorts. Your local au pair agency or language school would have a good idea of which nationalities lived locally.

Hi
My brother & his wife had au pairs. They live in rural Suffolk, 20 mins drive from nearest town. They used agencies & chose girls who had already lived away from home & were used to being independent. They tended to be 21+. SIL didn't want to have to mother someone who was desperately home sick. They had access to their own car. Did school drop offs & pick ups. They had girls from Germany Austria & Scsndinavia & no problems.

Thanks, that's really useful. A pjs student would be great, we are about a 20-30 min drive from the university library in Cambridge

I'll explore local agencies and see what I can find

It should be doable, but I would offer more in terms of pay to make up for the rural location to attract candidates.

Cambridge will be a reasonably attractive location. I am in a semi rural location and would narrow search to over 23s with several years driving experience.