Moving more rural - did you regret it?

[BoysRule]

We currently live in a commuter town - around 1.5 miles from the town centre. Our house is on a busy cut through road, semi detached and we would really like a quieter road and more space.

We are looking at a house that is around 4 miles from town, very rural, on its own down a country track. It's in a hamlet with no pub and no shops.

We are weighing up the pros and cons - most are obvious, i.e. longer drive to station/work/school run, no shops within walking distance etc. But did anyone make a move like this and really regret it? Is there anything we might not be thinking of?

Thanks.

I'm just about to do the exact same thing inn similar circumstances...
I haven't underestimated how much harder it will make some aspects of life but I've gone for it as I really want to live more rurally.

Life won't be impossible but it might take a bit more planning. I say go for it-but then I would!

We have decided not to go more rural than where we are, even though we want more peace. Our DS is 10 so in a couple of years will want to be able to get the bus or train to town with friends, so will need to be near public transport. Once he is driving we will escape!!

Yep , regret it immensely

How old are your DC's? Are you prepared to be a daily taxi service so that they can see their friends and do after school activities? What is there for DC's to do locally?

I agree - planning will be key as if we're driving into town then we will want to make sure we're not going backwards and forwards all day.

The teenage thing concerns me - that's what most of my friends have said. We will be driving them to friends and into town etc. However, there are lots of secondary schools here all over the place and we have no idea where our children will go but it won't be one in our local town. Therefore they will probably be at school with children who live quite far away - my thinking is that even if we lived nearer to town their friends won't so we would still be driving them.

Really don't want to regret it and then be priced out of town!

We were going to move from a big city to a very rural house, had to drive everywhere etc
We changed our minds and have decided on a compromise of being on the outskirts of a small town, detached house on a nice road but I can walk to shops, babygroups and eventually preschool and schools

For me the biggest issue was not being able to walk anywhere, I know I would feel so isolated
And what if my car broke down? I would be trapped!

But there are so many people that live rurally and love it

I think it depends what you want from life and whether peace and quiet is more important than local amenities

Good luck x

DCs are 5 and 7. Their school is in town so after school activities will be driven to straight from school and won't make much difference.

Nothing to do locally - apart from big garden and playroom! Everything would be in town.

Why did you regret it Doilooklikeatourist?

We moved rurally a couple of years ago, our kids are pre-teen years still. We absolutely love it and have no regrets at all.
There's an active and welcoming community which makes all the difference I think. We socialise much more now than we did in our old housing estate type location. It would be nice for the kids to be able to nip down the road to see friends but we do need to arrange things more and be available for ferrying duties.

Did it last year don't regret it at all apart from feeling I live in the car. You aren't moving that far out so shouldn't feel isolated. Also not looking forward to being a taxi service in future ds only 5 and didn't move school so he still has his friends but there are no children for him to play with here which hasn't caused an issue yet.

We do have a pub though.

It all depends on you really. We live in an isolated area with almost no public transport or shops. The nearest supermarket is a 20 mile round trip, so no nipping out for that forgotten item. However, there is a lot to do with many village activities on offer, if you want to join in. The plus side is the peace, wildlife and wonderful walks. You have to be more organised re shopping, and have a large freezer. No pub means that someone will have to be the designated driver. You may get snowed in in winter, we are too rural to get road clearance or even gritters. You may not have mains gas, and you may have more frequent power cuts - we seem to get a lot, especially in bad weather. You just need to be more self contained.

Don't regret it at all, in fact rhe best move we made. The last house we could walk everywhere to, the reality was we seldom did, usually took the car. We love the privacy and you get such a better house when you go more rural.

Moved from london to a ten minute drive to a commuter town. Surrounded by farms.

Best thing we ever did. I love it.

Just need to get a job outside of london now.

Just moved about 6 miles out to village with no pub or shop. DC are 15 & 17 (learning to drive). We have a huge amount to do on the house and garden & some days it feels overwhelming - kids have found it a bit hard but we accept the back & forth driving as part of our penance.

However - once it's all done it will be a wonderful forever house.

2 months in - few regrets. If we ever do feel that way we will move back to town.

BoysRule
It's just the driving , I have to drive to the shops , drive to the drs. Drive to anywhere
I have nice friends ( in walking distance , I don't mind no pavements , and we have head torches if we go out to friends , and will be walking home in the dark )
The DC are grown up now ( 22 and 20 )

It was 7 miles to school , on the bus from the end of the drive , some of the friends lived 15 miles away , constant taxi of mum and dad as there is no decent bus service ,
My DC went away to uni , they won't move back here
I want to live somewhere that's easier

Mind you , we are really rural
Think nice Welsh village about 5 miles from sleepy market town

We did, positives are more community, peace, darkness etc. Negatives - spent forever driving the children around as teens, one of having to always drive and completely reliant on having a car. We're about to move to a lovely small town, I'll miss aspects of being here but am really looking forward to being able to walk to the shops or the pub.

4 miles out means 8 miles every trip. So you run the kids in to town then you go back to fetch them then you realised you are out of naice ham so you nip for that then you go out in the evening to your Zumba class or advanced Spanish or whatever. Perfectly ordinary day and You've done 32 miles. Don't forget the mileage and wear tear costs on your car(s) - if you don't run two how you will probably need to. I have friends who moved out. It's a lot more expensive than it looks.

Absolutely what I love in a house.
Other considerations- will you need 4 wheel drive for the track in winter?
If one adult is away, how does the other one feel, at dead of night, when there's a noise outside? And you know there's no one else within earshot of you? Wouldn't put me off, cause I'd always have a big dog. But I used to wonder why this bothered a friend- till I babysat, and experienced it for myself.Quite creepy.
I think the real time is in the teenage years. When they could have got themselves home from school, and sorted themselves until you'd finished work, but now they can't.Because of the journey, or dangerous country lanes which no one would walk on in the winter dark.So you're tied to school hours for your work, for years and years longer than you would be.
I love living in the country, but don't underestimate the value of a close bus route in those teenage years.

I wouldn't recommend it having grown up very rurally, no bus service, it was very isolating. Not fun for a teenager so do think ahead. IMO the prettiness and peace doesn't make up for that, and the community while nice will be very homogenous. I'm not a big city person but unless you and dcs are very 'horsey' or real country types, the idyll isn't all it's cracked up to be. Also hardly environmentally friendly to have to take the car every time you so much as want a newspaper and a pint of milk.

Yep, we've just moved back into a town. I hated having to get in the car for everything.

We waited until DC were all away at university or college and have never regretted it for an instant. We lived on a cut through, like you OP, I didn't realise that we had background stress until we moved away from it.

We moved right to the edge of a town. Can walk into town but are the last house on the town building line so have an acre of garden and a big hill with forest and horses and farms behind us. Best of both worlds.

I haven't, but I know a few people who have and all of them regretted it and most have moved back to the city now.

I can't imagine not having the cinema, shops, theater, restaurants etc on my doorstep. If I lived anywhere other than a very large town I would feel very isolated and bored. We live in a peaceful road with no traffic, next to a park, 15 minutes walk from a lively city, kind of ideal really.

Disadvantages include-
Constant taxi driving and need to be organised.
Running out of essential items means a drive to the shop.
No takeaways
Teenagers moaning about isolation.
Getting cut off by snow.
Badgers in the garden. Deer eating tree bark.
Muck spreading smells.

Advantages -
Knowing where your teenagers are at all times. Retaining good oversight and control through the teenage years.
Good sense of community.
No mobile reception.
Lovely wood fires.
Peace and quiet. No traffic noise.
Walks from the door.
Free food from hedgerows and fields.
Low crime rate.
No light pollution.
Children grow up understanding seasons, confident about walking around in dark, able to socialise with all ages.

Forgot to say before this house we lived in a small welsh village and I hated it. We had one soar and a post office and a doctors surgery. Last bus from town was 17:40 and I spent nearly every day ferrying the kids round and picking them up. We moved after three years.