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 had a Maxi-Cosi. It was a tank of a thing but coped fine with snow, sand, and muddy tracks. The same frame is used with the car seat, the pram, or a pushchair. I used to have to fold it down and pop two wheels off to get in in the boot but it was so easy I learned to do it one-handed with DS sat on my hip.

@Sweetooth92 I think it's going to have to be a mountain buggy then! Definitely looking to get a used one so great to know yours is coping!

@Eventrider1 great idea, seems to be a common thing to have a muddy one and a town one so think I might do that too

@FrederickSinclair great advice, thank you!

I didn’t bother buying one until DC was 10 months old.
Carrier was so much better for us. We started using it more when D.C. started walking and getting heavier for me.

@foxcote90 I was really impressed, wish I’d had one straight away as it’s just so much more practical & can be hosed down with the dogs on a particularly muddy day.
It took me a few weeks to get one at a decent price but was so worth it!

I had a land rover!

I have just googled to see if they still make them, as i bought mine 20 years ago.

There's a buggy in John Lewis that's 1500

😲😲😲😲😲

I used a Britax buggy system but I stuck to farm tracks and lanes. It’s all chalk where we live so tends to drain quite quickly.
It was fine but wouldn’t have coped with muddy fields.

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.

We’ve got the Jane Epic which folds down quite compactly in comparison with other all terrain pushchairs. It easily fits in the boot of small cars. I could fit two in the boot of my Honda Jazz. It’s not quite as rugged as some other pushchairs but it has handled 2.5 years of countryside walks and is still going strong. I can lift the chassis with one hand into the boot and the wheel base is narrow enough that I managed to wheel it onto a London bus and park it in the buggy space without causing a scene.

Downsides of this pushchair are the small shopping basket and that none of the three pushchair seat positions are quite upright enough in my opinion. It does seem to matter to DD as she just sits herself and holds onto the bar when she wants to.