All these "new life in the wild" & "country life at half the price" people

[Velcropaws]

Much as I understand the attraction of countryside and animals (and I have a rural home myself) I do worry about some of the people filmed who aim to live off grid and have no mortgage. What will they do when they are old and can no longer rely on their physical strength to make a living? Similarly, I worry about some of the partners of the men who opt for this way of life having to bring up DC with very basic faculties. Each to their own of course and it's none of my business! But my experience has been that it takes a shed load of money to just fence land properly and invest in it to the point where you can make a living from it, to the extent that it will enable you to save for your DC's university fees or for your own care in old age.

I feel the same about the programmes about moving to Australia. I saw one couple and she was working long hours at a nursery and wanted a better work - life balance and they discovered....family bike rides and going to the beach both of which are obviously not available in the uk
Another family was a single parent with 3 kids - the oldest was a teenager about to do gcses. Funnily enough she wasnt that happy about upping sticks and moving away from her friends and starting at a new school, even after talking to another expat pupil for 5 minutes
The mum was really huffy about the teenager not wanting to go. The 2 younger kids were enthusiastic .

My parents uprooted me from my school, village and friends to start a rustic, live off the land, self sufficient life in a remote part of Scotland.

This was in the late 70s.

The reality was that they were never fully self sufficient.

Mum grew fruit and veg, but everything else came from the supermarket!

A wood burning stove was installed as our garden was a five acre wood with plenty of trees to burn. But the stove didn't work and was replaced by one that ran on oil.

The "organic" produce was not organic, given that my mum sprayed weed killer.

We kept goats, but we didn't milk them so they were pets!

Dad had to give up his secure job and go freelance. He often worked far from home and we had money worries.

I have wonderful memories of playing, camping and exploring my very own wood and of paddling in the stream.

I have bad memories of being bullied for being an outsider and having very little social life in my teens.

My parents are now living in their third self build. They still live in the Scottish countryside and love being in the wild! I have always lived in cities and towns since leaving home.

@user16395699

Have any of you watched 'Win the Wilderness' on netflix? (Or read what happened next?)

I watched the first episode if I’m thinking about the right programme —couples competed to win an elderly couples’ land in Alaska when they decided they couldn’t keep it on? I am aware of some kerfuffle to do with the land, but can’t remember what?

[quote CurbsideProphet]@JudyGemstone was that the couple who moved from London with a small child and she cried about missing her friends? DH and I thought at the end that they wouldn't stay. She seemed really unhappy.[/quote]
It was yeah, quite possibly the same couple SwedishEdith is talking about too, as they didn’t sell their London flat.

Yes that's the couple. We presumed they had financial support from family.

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1091819794568492&id=111604013763209

www.distractify.com/p/win-the-wilderness-winners-now

Theres a vet couple who did this as they essentially trashed their career, the show about them does suggest they have some quite significant issues they are ignoring (Matthew Watkinson).

They live in very poor conditions in Wales, I feel very sorry for their children. One of the bedrooms is a mouldy mattress in an old damp 4x4.

@SimonJT that sounds familiar, were they on Ben Fogle's New Lives In the Wild? If it's the one I'm thinking of they both sounded stressed and the lifestyle didn't look look comfortable at all.

[quote CurbsideProphet]@SimonJT that sounds familiar, were they on Ben Fogle's New Lives In the Wild? If it's the one I'm thinking of they both sounded stressed and the lifestyle didn't look look comfortable at all.[/quote]
I think so, I remember wondering why SS weren’t involved with the children.

Doesn’t Bear Grylls live in rural Wales with no running water or something?

No, he lives mainly in a Wiltshire farmhouse with swimming pool and tennis court. Hardly roughing it. He has a houseboat in London, a small island with a house on it in Wales and a luxury ski chalet in Verbier where he spends large chunks of the winter. He fools people fairly effectively with 'wilderness' activities.

Thanks Rule! Really at one with nature there... I wonder how often he actually visits the Welsh island then.

They're mad the lot of them. We've already downsized in our 50s to a house that can be adapted should it be necessary, level access entrances, stairs wide enough for a stair lift, that type of thing. We have a handy shop over the road, good bus services and don't regret it for a second.

Why would anyone want a huge garden to only be able to admire that requires paying a gardener to maintain it? A huge house that needs a cleaner I have a small house and have a cleaner mind? Extra rooms for all your family to come and stay, I mean I love my family but I don't want to give them the impression my door is always open to come and stay

The woman presenting this country life for half the price programme is so intensely irritating. All the OTT gushing over EVERYTHING, argh!!