City life versus the Country Living

[PigsinSpace]

I am debating whether we should just move out of London to somewhere nice in the country.

In one way I would miss the lifestyle (having shops so close by, friends a stone's throw away, such a choice of things to do) but in another way, i find it so hectic, the noise, pollution, constant airplanes, parking fines!.

Where is nice to live outside of London. Can anyone convince me to move or would I be mad?

ahhh.

I am in the city centre

Could not live in a village. It would drive me to drink very quickly - and then they'd all gossip about that too . I would happily live in the middle of nowhere with no neighbours though. Very happily. At least a mile from nearest house. Bliss!

when we moved to the village we are currently in, we had a list, the village had to have a post office, shop, pub, church, primary school.

What we got was a post office chinese & indian takeaways, greengrocers, pub, primary school, secondary school, Church & sports center, all within 20 minutes cycling time to DH's work. and 10-15 minute drive to city center.

I feel we have the best of both worlds.

People don't stare here however it is not the same as in London where people feel they have to actively avoid eye contact.

This is a difficult one, given that London is one of the most expensive place in the world...
Stay if you can afford it. Living far from dear friends is hard. Or at least I found it hard during the 8 yrs I lived in England (I'm Italian).
I'm a city person, and I do see the charms of the English country life. I really do. It is so beautiful. But I'd still prefer to live in a city. (I lived in Exeter btw, and I found it not big enough)

We're a couple of miles outside a village and I find it extremely lonely though the views are lovely and it's certainly quiet. Our very few immediate neighbours are all really nice but no young children within walking distance. Primary school is 4 miles away, sec school 10. I do about 400m per week school/scout/pre-school/friends/sport runs. We often have to have sleepovers as friends live in similar places. If I was finding a house again I'd choose one in a community with access to some form of public transport. Dh works abroad and I have 4 children so run myself ragged sometimes. Nearest decent cup of coffee is about 7 miles away!

Swedish- I really know what you're talking about.... the driving... and the COFFEE
A cappuccino bar opened in our market town three months after we moved- it made my year!
Many of the local people shunned it tho- why bother paying for fancy coffee when you can buy a mug fo 60p in the bakers? Why oh why?

There are alot of sleepovers , the same reasons as swedish- everyone lives miles apart.

We are innundated with friends coming to stay- after 7 years they still come from London, and that's great- the kids love it, and you catch up on things as you're with each other for a few days/ week.

I the seven yrs we've been here, many things have moved into the 20century- coffee being one, but the library for intsance, used to only have books about dried flowers in the art section, now it's had loads of money poured in, and some great books, particularly the kids.

Still can't buy corriander in the co-op tho'
and very often there's nothing organic, the fresh fish section only has Young's dayglo salmon....

But we have two organic farm shops, where you can get your week's veg, with the rain and earth , newly dug, for a few quid.....

I am confused as to what Londoners call country living.
My idea of country living isn't where I live (new forest market town),but a house in the middle of no where.

If you're a londoner what is your definition of country living?

Wouldn't want to live in the middle of nowhere. Have friends who moved out of London to do this and hated it. However, I moved to a fairly large village quite a few years ago and I love it and cannot ever envisage moving back to a city. The village is only about a 20 min drive from Bath so we are not exactly isolated.

I love the feeling of community and the fact that I walk down the street and can say hello to half a dozen people. People know my children and I would feel fairly confident letting them walk around the village.

Downside is that I loved going out for meals and once you factor in the need to drive to a decent place it is not so much fun.

You do need to be able to establish a network of friends or it can be lonely, but children are great for helping you do that.

I love it, I love it, I love it!

We live in Devon not a village, a tiny market town I guess. I wouldn't swap it for the world.

Kids have a childhood down here, they can run free, enjoy the outdoors the sea the moor,play and aren't surrounded by consumerism so don't seem to need or ask for so much 'stuff'.

They walk to pre-school, everybody knows them and they are part of the community. We are spoilt with choice of things to do, we're soooo busy. I just don't know how parents keep kids amused in cities. I lived in Bath and Bristol for a few years as much as I loved it I have no idea how I'd keep my boys happy there. I'm sure I would have but it must be such hard work and expensive. Most of the things we do here on the whole are free and easy.

If you want it to work you have to have the right attitude, being prepared to be part of a community is key. I don't know if we're just lucky but everybody seems so lovely and friendly here, focused on enjoying the outdoors, raising kids not what type of car you've got etc. As a result of that helping out with communal things isn't always a chore. I love visiting London, Bath,Bristol etc but we have just about everything down here that you get 'up country' even lattes in our local deli!!!!!!!! There isn't such a huge range of shops but we have enough lovely shops in our closest city. Does anybody need even more choice???

Another key point is loving the area you live in, it would be pointless if you didn't totally love the local countryside you're surrounded by.

I have to say though houses are really expensive down here too as is parking. It's a lifestyle choice and it's one either way you have to be totally in love with.

I am an unashamed Londoner - and while I love "the countryside", have no intention of living there.

I don't think friendly neighbours/people saying hello in the street/people knowing who you are are the exclusive preserve of the sticks. We know most people in our road (indeed there is an annual Christmas party )and have varying degrees of friendship from a smile and a wave, through "a watering of the tomatoes when on holiday" to a "large amount of wine and highly disreputable gossip" with certain sections. The DCs go to school 10 mins walk away and lots of their class mates live in the surrounding roads - certainly less than 5 mins walk away.

Interestingly, we cycle a lot - a lot more than friends of mine do in the countryside as we have small backroads and they in general have faster A and B roads. We use our car very little (all that taxi-ing would drive me bonkers). We grow vegetables (assisted by our own compost). I suspect we live a greener lifestyle than someone living in a village who has a daily school and work run.

The DCs school is very international/culturally mixed, which I think you often lose out on outside large'ish cities. There are lots of great and cool things to do, so we are cool and sophisticated. We don't get disproportinately excited by the thought of a cappuchino.

we stay in the middle of nowhere, but the town is 5 mins away which is great. we have a HUGE garden,the kids and dog/cats can play outside all day long and nobody is around to bother us,
in the morning i drive 5 mins into town drop ds off at nursery and me and dd head to toddler group,when it finishes we collect ds and go home to the peace and quiet, i love it and wouldnt change it for the world. my sis stays in the town and i hate it there, so noisy,cars flying by the door,cant leave the kids outside for 5 mins alone (not that im in the habit of leaving them alone anyway!!) but its so chaotic,in town you cant even sit out and relax in the garden without someone bothering you,
i wouldnt want to live much further fron shops/schools though,(we used to live 8 miles which we didnt think was far til we moved last yr,now we are about 3/4 miles and its SO much better for us)
i would HATE to stay in town.i grew up in the country near a small village and loved it.

the quality of life is miles better for the children (until they are teenagers when i expect they will hate us for moving from London)

its pretty dull and lonely for the grown ups if you don't know anyone or have no family nearby.

also the lack of culture and 'intellectualism' and the countryside class system can be very stifling

think it depends how in the country you are too.
our nearest big town(where most of our families are) is 30miles away,we have a smaller town 10mins away which has tesco and enough shops to live with.
i drive so it isnt a problem for me,
the town i go to every day is just 3/4miles away so 5 mins in car. there is a village a mile away with a pub/school/shop/petrol station/garage so everything we would need really.we are also lucky that the bus passes the end of our drive VERY often, so if the car ever broke down i wouldnt be stuck.
we are also in a very touristy area so theres LOADS for the kids to do nearby,
within 10 mins there is
3 swimming pools,loads of parks,loads of beaches,forest (where we walk the dog) and a great visitor centre with adventure playgrounds inside and out.
30 miles away is another 3/4 visitor centre/fun parks/open farms,well equipped parks/soft play ares,
we are very lucky and sometimes it is easy to forget how close these things all are to us.
i do however agree that once the kids are older(high school age)our views may change,but we will cross that brigde when we come to it!!)

I'm trying to decide as well. Found a beaut of a house which is 5 mins drive from a small town, by the sea, and about 45 mins drive to the nearest big city (where we live now).

I want to do it as I like the idea of my kids groing up on a farm but I worry that it'll be isolated and I'll be very much alone.

Times like this I wish I had a DH!

hi flight,
how old are your kids?
i think if its what you want you should go for it. kids make friends easily, and if theres a school/toddler group even a park,you are bound to make new friends. it will be tough,but if its what you want give it a try. at least its not too far from the city you are in just now,so not too far to travel to see friends,

oh thanks guys!

No Fio - Birchington! (I know, I know - what does it have to offer? Not sure yet - researching on UPmystreet.com!!)

He is nearly five and is part time at school - not sure if we are HEing or not yet. There's a school there.

Little one is 10 months.

I think there would be farm workers and holiday makers there in summer, it's arable and it's a mile through fields to the sea.

I'm just a big scared wuss!

Get this

lol,theres prob a toddler group of some sorts so you would meet people there,
good luck whatever you decide

Ooh do you know it Fio????

Are there any good groups or anything, I know nobody there

I like HB btw