Town or country?

[Cantdecidewhere]

Help! I'm at my wits end. We've sale agreed our small semi in an estate with a view to moving to a detached house on outskirts of town but now we've been outbid on our 1st choice house and the vendors of our 2nd choice home have increased their price to 400k whereas we were hoping to nab it for less!
So now my dh is away with work for a couple of weeks and I'm home alone with the kids and wondering if I'd be too isolated out in the country... house no.2 is further out than we'd ideally want.
Child1 has just entered the teenage years and gaining some independence... would it be a step backwards to move out to country where I'd have to drive them absolutely everywhere?

I'm just worried that I haven't found any house that I love. I dont want to let my buyers down but I'm getting cold feet. I love my little house but it's too close to neighbours and not enough parking.

We are about to move from town to countryside with similar age kids but I got a house with everything essential in walking distance - school, shop, sports centre for us so only need to drive at weekends. It depends how rural - I wouldn't want to be somewhere kids couldn't walk to school or walk to a shop. Most of my kids activities are at school or sports centre.

Think about it day to day as much as you can. Is there enough to keep your children occupied. Rural is often beautiful and safe but can be dull. It's finding a balance. Do the kids have any preference? Mine both strongly preferred the rural one but you do have to balance that with making allowances for what they may not be considering. Other option is to sell your house and rent whilst you find something perfect, being chain free you may get a better deal but its two moves.

We moved from a town in the UK to a isolated house in the US 20 miles from the nearest village.

I love everything about the country, and definitely don’t feel isolated. If I walk the dog I can leave the back garden and walk 30 miles and never encounter another person.

@Kursk Wow! That's a huge change. Glad you're loving it. Was it something you've always wanted to try?

@Penguin I agree with you, and having to drive absolutely everywhere doesn't sound like fun. I'm gutted our no.1 choice didn't happen for us and I'm also worried tgat I haven't that gut feeling about any of the houses I've viewed so far... dh has, twice!
I'm now thinking of trying to convince him to stay in town but look for a detached. Despite both of our lifelong dream to live in the country. .now that it might actually happen I've cold feet and can see the benefits of being close to facilities.

Yes I always felt trapped and enclosed in the UK. We wanted freedom to live as we wanted and that’s what we got! Yes there are downsides like no 911 cover at all and no electricity other than our solar panels and generator but it’s worth it to us

I think it depends on your lifestyle, if your kids are really social and do a lot of clubs you will just be driving them round constantly, which for me wouldn’t be ideal. Saying that if you’re in to long walks and having the space then perhaps that will outweigh the constant ferrying around.

I'm hoping to move to Hebden Bridge in a few years and commute to Manchester, best of both worlds

I'm having cold feet. Eldest child & dh want countryside...I'm balking at the practicialties of it - having grown up in the countryside myself I have a good idea of what's involved.
Plus the vendor of choice no.2 harms increased his price expectations beyond our budget..its been on the market nearly a year and he's raising his price
This week I'm going to see two detached houses in estates to see if they can sway us.