Countryside mums - do you even use your pushchair?

[foxcote90]

Hi all,

We're due in the next couple of months and I've been trying to work out which pushchair to get. I've been reading tons of reviews on best pushchairs for muddy tracks and country paths and I don't know if I'm just being unrealistic.

We live in the proper countryside - not outskirts of a town - and the tracks are hilly, muddy and definitely not smooth.

Realistically, I wonder if I might just use a baby carrier for walks anyway. So would I be better just getting a pushchair suitable for towns instead?

Would love to know from other country / rural mums what they did?

Do I even need a pushchair? Don't want to end up spending hundreds of something we don't need!

Thanks for all the advice!

I have a 1 month old and live in the country and have a country life (dogs and horse) and use my buggy a lot! Although also have a sling when I choose to take dogs on walks that require gates and styles!

I copied my brother who also lives in middle of nowhere and bought the mountain buggy (although he bought the terrain and I've bought the urban jungle). His MB lasted all 3 of his children so they are good quality and excellent to use

Maybe you could get a second hand all terrain just for country walks and save your pushchair budget for a city model?

For walks involving walking up big hills off-road I did use the baby carrier until DD was nearly 2.

However, I’ve always opted for using the pushchair for walks on tracks, footpaths (around reservoirs, through woods etc.), even a bit for walks through fields with no proper path, and definitely walks on country roads. I really wouldn’t have been without our all terrain.

I never clean the all terrain. Just keep it muddy (apart from when it snows as snow is hands down the best way to clean pushchair wheels!) and have a separate lightweight pavement pushchair which I call ‘the civilised pushchair’ which I keep clean and ready to go into theatres, restaurants, shops etc,

Yes we do, our pram lives in the back of our car as we head to town to do baby groups etc. If I’m walking at home I used a sling when baby was small then a back carrier when bigger. Our pram has been invaluable for other things walking round the garden at the 4month sleep regression, outside sleeping etc and it’s a normal one ok across grass but I wouldn’t use it to do proper walking it’s too much effort.

We live really rurally and I spent most of my Mat leave in town meeting friends for lunch/baby groups, babies sleep a lot and it’s nice to be able to put them somewhere. If you don’t plan on leaving the house much you might not need one and could make do with a sling.

We had to have two, one that was for daily muddy use and another that was clean enough to go in the car boot and into town. We had the out and about nipper 360 for both though.

I used a sling a lot as well though, especially with DC2 when I needed spare hands for DC1.

@PrayingandHoping silly question but what did you use the buggy for mainly? Sounds like you've got a similar set up to us!

@Timeless19 thanks for the advice. Out of interest which do you have as your town buggy and do you recommend it?

I live in a hilly market town with hundreds of steps. All the quick routes involve steps up/down the side of the valley. I never use a pushchair to go into town.

I do have a Nipper Sport running buggy which is amazing - great off road capability but wide. Think it can be used under 6 months but not for running until 6 months. DH has occasionally used it for walks - I only use for running!

Hate pushing the basic stroller after the smoothness of the running buggy - would live to get rid, possibly to grandparents!

I use my lovely ancient bugaboo for when there are proper paths to stick to.

On muddy tracks it’s much easier using a carrier/sling.

Some of my dog walks are on footpaths that are buggy proof. Would still need to be off road suitable with suspension but I'm not pushing through bogs. Up the yard with the horse it's essential. I can park her up and get on with my jobs. In the summer I plan to park her up next to the school while I ride. I do agility with my dogs too so needed when training and will be essential in the new year when we are back competing lol!

My brother used his for dog walking. Think he had similar tracks to us. I did meet him in central
London with it though and did the natural history and science museum lol! It's so light and easy to steer one handed.

I had an Out n About Nipper 360 for walks, and a Maclaren buggy to keep in the car if going into town.

The trade off with a proper off road buggy is that they are heavy, may not fit in your boot properly, and are a bit too big when going around town. How often do you go into town and how big is your car boot? It is also tedious cleaning a buggy covered in mud, wellies are much easier to clean.

We got a Babyjogger CityMini GT. It does tracks when the weather is good and is ok for going around town. The rest of the time we use a sling .

You could get a sling and wait until after the baby is born to get a pushchair. That way you'll have a bit more of an idea what your baby is like - mine have all hated lying flat so we didn't use one at all until they were 6 months old.

I had a big old Land Rover of a pram for walks near home, and a less disreputable one for going into town and things. One was secondhand off eBay, the other a hand me down from a friend. I had a sling too and used it a lot in winter, but in the summer I could keep DS cool and shaded much better in his pushchair - and the mud dried up so that wasn’t an issue. Sling was best for winter though.

We had chariot carriers, various models, once they were too heavy for front or back carriers. But mostly we carried them. We used the chariots in town too. A regular buggy/ pushchair would have been pointless.

I used a sling and then a backpack. I did have an all terrain which was useful for walking to the village hall etc on rutted pavements.

I use mine, but also use sling too. We live in a tiny rural hamlet and I have a horse. Baby is almost 10 weeks, we have the icandy All Terrain and it’s brilliant so far. Not heavy, folds easily, compact but sturdy and most importantly for me-parent facing.
I’d hate to rely on a sling alone, pushchair gets parked outside stable and taken on walks. Carrycot bloody useful for daytime sleep and changing nappies when out. Sling great for paths that involve stiles.

As soon as they could walk they walked and i had one of those hip seats to carry them when needed.

Oh, and the other big advantage of the pushchair was bag carrying - if we went across the fields to the village shop, it made carrying shopping home much easier. Especially once DS had moved from front to back carries in the sling, and I couldn’t wear a rucksack any more.

I also had a lightweight buggy for town, it lived in the car boot.

I live in a town in the countryside where there aren’t proper footpaths outside the city centre and you can find yourself walking miles through mud and grass to get where you need to be if you don’t have a car. I have decided to get the Uppababy Vista as I saw it in action in the Rockies and it’s really good for all terrain use (and easy to clean with a hose), but I also plan to have a carrier when we go to the woods as our trails are too small for even the narrowest pushchair.

We have a mountain buggy for this purpose. My eldest son is now nearly 2, and we are having another imminently and we didn’t want to compromise on our long dog walks. DS does get out and walk but can’t manage miles-whilst we have one of the osprey rucksack carriers he got really heavy to lump about. A sling works when tiny but we found the pushchair better as they got bigger and heavier.
I picked ours up for £50 on Facebook marketplace, took all the fabric off and washed it and it’s great. No muddy rugged ground has beaten it yet and we do proper decent walking-not just flat footpaths 😊

I used mine across all sorts of terrain, out n about nipper. Also fine for in town. But used a carrier a lot too.

I am out in the sticks and have horses, dogs and many a muddy track to get down.
Baby not due for a few months but I managed to get an icandy apple to pear 3 wheel all terrain pram off the Facebook marketplace for £150. Have tested it out and it seems to cope really well with uneven and muddy ground.
My plan is to have that one for all the dirty activities and buy a 'nice' one for going out in public.

We got given a hand-me-down Bugaboo when I was pregnant with first baby and it was fairly useless off road - we live on a farm, have dogs etc and never really walk on nice smooth footpaths so it wasnt much use! I mainly used it for somewhere to nap the baby when outside or for having in the boot of the car for going shopping. Used slings for walks mainly. But then when baby was 4 months old I got pregnant again and just couldn't manage the sling so we did end up stuck unable to get out and about for a while. Eventually got given a hand-me-down Out n About Nipper double and it's been a god send. I've not found a terrain it can't manage yet and we really do go off road (not just on public footpaths/tracks!). It doesn't have a parent facing seat which I miss so that does bother me a bit, and I probably would have bought the Mountain Buggy Duet if I was buying one (or the single if I didn't have two babies close together) for the extra options for seat positioning.

We had twins so couldn't use a sling.

We had a mountain buggy, it was brilliant. We used it on paths, the downs, bridle ways. There was nothing it couldn't handle.

We had a Macclaren buggy for town. The smallest lightest thing we could find.