Argh, I'm freaking out having moved to village!

[dinny]

I miss London! Feel really unsettled and ds been really poorly for a week with throat infection, raging temp, chesty cough.

Does it take ages to settle when moving house? Had forgotten how weird it all is.

dinny you should come down the road a bit and visit me! and get locktes to come too... and we'll all have a nice cup of tea

I thought I wanted to move to the country then read an article by a woman who had done it. She said she never settled and it took her over three years to find someone who had eaten an avacado. That stuck in my mind.
Not what you want to hear I'm sure. I still visit the country a lot with the kids and when I drive back to Brighton I wonder why I have chosen to live in amongst the cars and concrete. I'm still really torn on this.
I think it takes a good couple of years to start feeling at home, wherever you move. I moved from London to Brighton three years ago and am finally begining to feel at home.

pmsl at the avocado!

I moved back to a town and house we'd previously lived in for 6 years and it still felt odd. 4 months on things are more settled but then next year we plan to up sticks again ! Even a local move can be strange. It has only been a week, after all , lol!!

oh, and I don't think you'd need fret on the avocado score !

Did you lunch on Clapham Common lockets and Dinny?
I used to go to that fab cafe. I remember when it opened I used to go about three times a week. (When I had a career and no kids of course).

Have moved from London to a small village in France and about six months in I'm really enjoying it. Mostly I think that's because I know I can spend ten weeks a year or so back in London which is quite enough.

When things get really bad (and the nebbing that goes on here is remarkable) I just say "I'm not on the Northern Line" to myself over and over again.

Also (and not sure how to put this without sounding silly) I really like the nature aspect - actually noticing different seasons and wildlife. And I often think that it'll be a nice place for ds (and any others that might come along) to grow up.

Miss my friends something chronic though.

Lummox I miss my London friends and I'm only in Brighton. I think I'm missing the period of my life when I used to have time to hang out with friends. London is great for that.

Think am prob the same spidermama - we moved out here just after having ds, so it is probably that time that I'm missing just as much. We're only about two hours from London here but it seems an awfully long way.

Oh, and sorry to hijack dinny, but thanks again for the rucksack. The baby loves it. He turned out to be a bit of a chubster and I haven't been able to use slings much because he's so heavy. I use it round the house and then wander round outside with him in it when I want to make a phonecall. He goes all wide eyed and happy because he is so high up.

Oh Lummox I'm really glad to hear that. I did the same and used to cook and clean whilst with the baby on my back. They love it don't they?

Hijack over.

Oh we have just gone through this dilemma and chickened out of moving out of London at the last minute. I don't know whether we've done the right thing (probably have considering I'd rather boil my head than invite the entire village round to drinks ) and part of me still hankers that life. I think you have been very brave to do it - we will probably just talk about it for the next 10 years instead.

(bit worrying that you miss London in Brighton Spidermama - we were thinking that moving there would be the solution).

Yes, it takes ages. I'm finding it hard to settle into our village too (used to villages as such, but also used to being within 50 miles of another person who knows my name- OK, where everyone knows my name!)

good option is to go somewhere where you know there are lots of London refugees, and if you're within spitting distance of a city/good shopping centre. did it for me.
do agree that the winter seems to be harder in the countryside, however. part of the reason we moved rurally was to do the whole get out into nature thing and in the winter, it's much harder and more miserable to do. that's why you need the town close by so that you can go and do stuff indoors.

we moved from busy southend area to a village elsewhere in Essex -okay it was close to the train, 40 minutes to London by train and had a high street in the next town BUT I loved being in the village.

What did I do all day as I was home with dd1?

We went to toddler group, walked to the park, lakes to feed the ducks, went swimming, played in the garden, visited friends, went for walks.

On weekends with dh as well we would walk over the hill to the pub and have lunch or sit in the sunshine and enjoy a drink or two, have friends over for BBQ's during the summer.

Really enjoyed having space, off street parking, no crush in the high street when popping in for a few things, no drunken yobs carrying on on their way home from the pub, no parking miles away from our flat.

On the other hand....

I used to live in a village, and travelled up to London quite often to visit family/friends.

I didn't exactly walk around with straw in my hair saying "ooooh arrrrr", but London really got me down - it was so BIG, noisy, dirty, everyone in a hurry.

When I got to Paddington for the trip home and found my train with its "Bristol TM" signs in the window, I used to feel a glow of affection towards it because it was taking me somehwere so much nicer.

Ooooh arrrrrrrr.

Have to say WellieMum- now EXACTLY where you are coming from, right up to the Bristol TM sign as that was my train home from my weekly work meeting and jaunt to london too. I could have stayed up there and gone out / shopping but the hugeness and noises used to phase me too much.

Well, feeling a bit better and slightly more settled now (though ds poorly so am stressed in that respect).

Feel much more relaxed after doing a big shop at Waitrose yesterday - just a 5 min drive away. Yippee

dinny, dinny, I read this and thought, oh, poor woman, maybe she's in Devon or Guatemala or somewhere, let's see if I can help (I lived in Devon for 3 years in between London and Bristol) and then I skim over it and you're in Surrey? Agree with enid, get a grip

ooh hadn't realised there was a Waitrose quite so close - must investigate !!

ooh have been thinking about moving from london to a village in the middle of nowhere and now am scared - is it really that freaky? my friends think it's a terrible idea but I'm fantasising over big gardens and green fields

Took me 2 years to settle after move from Woking,Surrey to absolutely middle of nowhere Wales.
You have to really look at what you want.I dont have to lock my car,worry about my childrens safety,but then the nearest Waitrose is hours away.People have been really shocked by my move.I should have done it years ago.If you dont like your own company stay in the town.

Dinny - yes, I agree with others - get a grip woman... after all, it's not as if there aren't other MNers just down the road.....

I live in a village in the countryside, with acres of fields beyond my back garden. I think myself and my children very privileged. I adore the relaxed way of life, and the friendliness of all my neighbours. I know everyone in my road by name, and most people in the village. Everyone says hello as you pass. The village school is great, and the mums all know each other via a toddler group, and playschool. We all go out together too. I have friends in the town who don't even speak to their neigbours! The only downside is that it's further to get to the shops! Enjoy the village if you can!