Life in the country - the reality

[tinstar]

DH is keen for us to retire to the country having spent all our married life on the outskirts of a big city.

I don't like where we live now - too crowded, noisy, dirty and crime is on the rise.

But I'm scared that I will feel lonely and isolated in the country. We've looked on line at some beautiful properties in the south-west. Great in summer but in the winter .....

I wondered if anyone has made a similar move and if it worked for them?

Apart from finding it difficult to make friends another concern (please don't laugh) is that if we get a house with a thatched roof or outbuildings, we'll have to cope with mice or even rats.

Any advice?

We moved to a more rural location, it is lovely! The people are friendly, especially dog walkers when we are out with ours. We make a point of using the local shop which we can walk to and the pub, although mainly for evening meals not just drinking.

We have a fantastic small market town a 15min drive down the road, butcher, veg shop, doctor, dentist etc.

Footpaths for walking go for miles. The local walking group is friendly although the people are older than me.

Villages around here tend to be white, conservative and with an older population, mostly retired. It helps if you have a horse, you meet loads of people!

I think if you are retiring and have a dog and go to the pub and get involved in the Church then it could be ok.

If you don’t have a dog, you don’t drink and you don’t do church you could go months not seeing anyone to talk to.

I am an outgoing person, like to talk to people. I have never felt so lonely in all my life.

It wasn’t as though you could go out and have people around you.
You went out in the street and there was not a sole around.

I will be retiring in the next year or two; like a drink; have dogs; but definitely NOT a churchgoer!

tinstar having a dog makes a massive difference to me.
I don’t always see other people but any I do see are always friendly, say hello and most familiar faces stop for a bit of a dog chat. I love that it gets me out every day.
The few times we’ve not had the dog around, it’s been really weird as I felt very house bound, going for a walk around the village without him would just be weird.
I’ve found moving relationships on from the friendly chat in the Street has been very difficult and I’ve sort of given up trying to actual make friends here.

I am not sure people can really be classed as "rural" if they are 20 minutes from a city.

I live in the city centre (well, about 1 mile out). From my backdoor, I can join a woodland trail that leads 80 miles to Bowness in Windermere - pretty much all off road.

So you don't need to be in the countryside to access it.

As well as walking to the Lake District (if I had a long time!) I can also walk to a cinema, my office, a swimming pool, the gym, the shops, the theatre, the art gallery, the train station etc etc etc.

Surely it depends on the city. If you drive for 20 mins from Gloucester, Worcester or Hereford, to pick a few at random, you would certainly be out in the sticks. Perhaps not so much from, say, Bristol, Swindon or Birmingham.

I live ruraly in a village 1000ft above sea level. No shop, no pub, no school. Just houses and farms around. I drive 2 miles down the road to the Coop/Post/bakery. Primary school there with 190 kids and secondary school of 500. One bus leaving for town on the morning and at 2pm then nothing.

I drive the kids to their friends and school as i work 2 villages away so enroute.

I love it though. I have 3 freezers and plenty of food all the time. Ive been snowed in a fair few times and many don’t believe me as 1 mile away down the road there won't be snow.